openLCA 1.

10
Comprehensive User Manual

Software Version: 1.10.1

Manual Version: October 2019
Authors: Dr A. Ciroth, C. Di Noi, T. Lohse, M. Srocka

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Table of Contents

1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Introduction to openLCA ............................................................................................................... 1
1.1.1 What is new in version 1.10.1 ............................................................................................... 1
1.2 Introduction to GreenDelta ........................................................................................................... 2
1.3 Introduction to openLCA Nexus .................................................................................................... 2

2 Installation ................................................................................................................ 3
2.1 Windows........................................................................................................................................ 3
2.2 Mac ................................................................................................................................................ 5
2.3 Linux .............................................................................................................................................. 6

3 Welcome to openLCA .............................................................................................. 6

3.1 Main menu functions .................................................................................................................... 7
3.2 Tabs ............................................................................................................................................. 11

4 Databases...................................................................................................................11
4.1 Creating a new, empty database................................................................................................. 11
4.2 Restoring a database ................................................................................................................... 13
4.2.1 Accessing databases from openLCA Nexus ......................................................................... 13
4.3 Database scheme update ............................................................................................................ 15
4.4 Importing and combining databases ........................................................................................... 15
4.4.1 Importing a database from exported zolca-File .................................................................. 15
4.4.2 Importing an existing database ........................................................................................... 17
4.4.3 Importing databases in ecospold, Excel, ILCD, SimaPro CSV, and JSON-LD formats .......... 17
4.5 Creating a remote database ........................................................................................................ 20
4.6 Database elements ...................................................................................................................... 21
4.7 Exporting data ............................................................................................................................. 22
4.7.1 Exporting data in EcoSpold formats .................................................................................... 22
4.7.2 Exporting data in Excel format ............................................................................................ 24
4.7.3 Exporting data in ILCD ZIP-file format ................................................................................. 25
4.7.4 Exporting data as html file................................................................................................... 26
4.7.5 Exporting data as CSV-Matrix .............................................................................................. 27
4.7.6 Export data as JSON-LD file ................................................................................................. 27
4.7.7 "Copy" function for all openLCA tables ............................................................................... 29

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 4.8 Link with Collaboration Server .................................................................................................... 30

5 Flows ......................................................................................................................... 35
5.1 Creating a new flow..................................................................................................................... 35
5.2 Flow tab contents ........................................................................................................................ 35
5.2.1 General information ............................................................................................................ 35
5.2.2 Flow properties ................................................................................................................... 36
5.3 Waste modelling with the actual flow direction ......................................................................... 37

6 Processes .................................................................................................................. 39
6.1 Creating a new process ............................................................................................................... 39
6.2 Process tab contents ................................................................................................................... 41
6.2.1 General information ............................................................................................................ 41
6.2.2 General information - Data quality ..................................................................................... 41
6.2.3 Inputs/Outputs .................................................................................................................... 43
6.2.4 Administrative information ................................................................................................. 44
6.2.5 Modelling and validation ..................................................................................................... 44
6.2.6 Parameters .......................................................................................................................... 45
6.2.7 Allocation............................................................................................................................. 46
6.2.8 Social aspects ...................................................................................................................... 49

7 LCIA methods ........................................................................................................... 51

7.1 Importing LCIA methods into openLCA ....................................................................................... 51
7.2 Creating a new impact assessment method ............................................................................... 53
7.3 Impact methods tab contents ..................................................................................................... 53
7.3.1 General information ............................................................................................................ 53
7.3.2 Impact factors...................................................................................................................... 54
7.3.3 Normalization/Weighting .................................................................................................... 54
7.3.4 Parameters .......................................................................................................................... 54
7.3.5 Shape file parameters ......................................................................................................... 55

8 Product systems...................................................................................................... 56
8.1 Creating a new product system................................................................................................... 57
8.2 Product system tabs contents ..................................................................................................... 59
8.2.1 General information ............................................................................................................ 59
8.2.2 Parameters .......................................................................................................................... 60
8.2.3 Model graph ........................................................................................................................ 60

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 8.2.4 Statistics .............................................................................................................................. 65
8.3 Nested product systems .............................................................................................................. 66
8.4 Calculating a product system ...................................................................................................... 67

9 Result Analysis ........................................................................................................ 70

9.1 Quick results tab contents ........................................................................................................ 70
9.1.1 General information ............................................................................................................ 71
9.1.2 Inventory results.................................................................................................................. 72
9.1.3 Impact analysis .................................................................................................................... 73
9.1.4 LCIA checks .......................................................................................................................... 74
9.1.5 Locations ............................................................................................................................. 77
9.1.6 Grouping .............................................................................................................................. 77
9.2 Analysis tab contents ................................................................................................................. 80
9.2.1 General information ............................................................................................................ 80
9.2.2 Inventory results.................................................................................................................. 80
9.2.3 Impact analysis .................................................................................................................... 80
9.2.4 Process results ..................................................................................................................... 80
9.2.5 Contribution tree ................................................................................................................. 81
9.2.6 Grouping .............................................................................................................................. 82
9.2.7 Locations ............................................................................................................................. 82
9.2.8 Sankey diagram ................................................................................................................... 83
9.2.9 LCIA checks .......................................................................................................................... 83
9.3 Regionalized LCA ......................................................................................................................... 83
9.3.1 Locations ............................................................................................................................. 84
9.3.2 Calculation framework ........................................................................................................ 85
9.3.3 Parameterization of LCIA methods ..................................................................................... 85
9.3.4 Calculation of regionalized LCA ........................................................................................... 86
9.4 Monte Carlo Simulation ............................................................................................................ 88
9.4.1 Adding uncertainty information .......................................................................................... 89
9.4.2 Starting the Monte Carlo Simulation .................................................................................. 90
9.4.3 Monte Carlo Results ............................................................................................................ 92
9.5 Life Cycle Costing in OpenLCA ..................................................................................................... 93
9.5.1 Available Data...................................................................................................................... 95
9.5.2 Results and analysis available ............................................................................................. 95

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10 Projects .................................................................................................................... 96
10.1 Creating a new project ................................................................................................................ 96
10.2 Project tab contents .................................................................................................................... 97
10.2.1 Project setup ....................................................................................................................... 97
10.2.2 Report sections.................................................................................................................. 100
10.3 Exporting a project report ......................................................................................................... 100

11 Advanced Topics .................................................................................................... 101

11.1 Expanding memory on a MacOS system ................................................................................... 101
11.2 Scripting in openLCA ................................................................................................................. 102
11.2.1 The Python interpreter...................................................................................................... 105
11.2.2 The JavaScript interpreter ................................................................................................. 106
11.2.3 The olca-object and the inspection function..................................................................... 106
11.2.4 Modifying database content ............................................................................................. 108
11.2.5 Running Calculations ......................................................................................................... 108
11.2.6 Using more functions from the API ................................................................................... 109

12 Quality assurance and performance .................................................................. 111

12.1 Quality assurance ...................................................................................................................... 111
12.2 Performance .............................................................................................................................. 113

13 Contact..................................................................................................................... 114
14 Acknowledgements ...............................................................................................115

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Figures
Figure 1: openLCA Nexus search engine .............................................................................................................................................. 3
Figure 2: Decompressed ZIP file ........................................................................................................................................................... 4
Figure 3: Setup screen for installation in Windows ........................................................................................................................ 4
Figure 4: Installation file for Mac OS ................................................................................................................................................... 5
Figure 5: openLCA Welcome page ....................................................................................................................................................... 6
Figure 6: Search function in openLCA.................................................................................................................................................. 7
Figure 7: Options from the "Window" tab ......................................................................................................................................... 9
Figure 8: openLCA Formula Interpreter ............................................................................................................................................. 10
Figure 9: Right-clicking a tab ................................................................................................................................................................ 11
Figure 10: Empty Navigation window following openLCA installation ..................................................................................... 11
Figure 11: Creating a new database, step 1 ....................................................................................................................................... 12
Figure 12: Creating a new database, step 2 (data creation wizard)............................................................................................ 12
Figure 13: New database containing openLCA reference data only ........................................................................................... 12
Figure 14: openLCA reference data ..................................................................................................................................................... 13
Figure 15: openLCA Nexus Map ........................................................................................................................................................... 14
Figure 16: Downloading a database from openLCA Nexus .......................................................................................................... 15
Figure 17: Importing an existing zolca database, step 1 ................................................................................................................ 16
Figure 18: Importing an existing zolca database, step 2 ............................................................................................................... 16
Figure 19: Importing an existing zolca database, step 3 ............................................................................................................... 16
Figure 20: Importing an existing database into an active database, step 3 ............................................................................ 17
Figure 21: Importing a database, step 1 ............................................................................................................................................. 18
Figure 22: Importing a database, step 2 ............................................................................................................................................ 18
Figure 23: Importing a database, step 3 ............................................................................................................................................ 19
Figure 24: Copy data from excel .......................................................................................................................................................... 19
Figure 25: Paste it into the “Inputs” or “Outputs” section .......................................................................................................... 20
Figure 26: Data is copied ...................................................................................................................................................................... 20
Figure 27: Connecting to a remote database ................................................................................................................................... 21
Figure 28: Database element structure and flow of information .............................................................................................. 21
Figure 29: Exporting as EcoSpold1 and EcoSpold2, step 1 ............................................................................................................. 23
Figure 30: Exporting as EcoSpold1 and EcoSpold2, step 2 ............................................................................................................. 23
Figure 31: Exporting as EcoSpold1 and EcoSpold2, step 3 .............................................................................................................. 23
Figure 32: Exporting results as excel file .......................................................................................................................................... 24
Figure 33: Exporting product system as excel file, step 1 .............................................................................................................. 25
Figure 34: Exporting product system as excel file, step 2 ............................................................................................................. 25
Figure 35: Exporting as ILCD, step 1 ................................................................................................................................................... 26
Figure 36: Exporting as ILCD, step 2 .................................................................................................................................................. 26
Figure 37: Exporting Project results as html file.............................................................................................................................. 27
Figure 38: Exporting project results in SimaPro CSV format, step 1 ........................................................................................... 27
Figure 39: Exporting project results in SimaPro CSV format, step 2 .......................................................................................... 27

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Figure 40: Exporting as JSON-LD file, step 1 .................................................................................................................................... 28
Figure 41: Exporting as JSON-LD file, step 2 .................................................................................................................................... 28
Figure 42: Exporting as JSON-LD file, step 3 .................................................................................................................................... 29
Figure 43: Copying data from openLCA tables ............................................................................................................................... 29
Figure 44: Collaboration Server, exemplary use case ................................................................................................................... 30
Figure 45: Collaboration server – connecting local database to repository ............................................................................. 31
Figure 46: Collaboration Server - User 1 connects locale database to repository .................................................................. 31
Figure 47: Collaboration Server - User 1 commits changes to repository ................................................................................. 32
Figure 48: Collaboration server - User 2 connects to the same repository and fetches data .............................................. 33
Figure 49: Collaboration server - summary of differences to local database ......................................................................... 33
Figure 50: Collaboration server - Diff tool ....................................................................................................................................... 34
Figure 51: Collaboration server - Commit history in openLCA, step 1 ....................................................................................... 34
Figure 52: Collaboration server - Commit history in openLCA, step 2 ...................................................................................... 34
Figure 53: Creating a new flow ............................................................................................................................................................ 35
Figure 54: Flow editor - General information tab .......................................................................................................................... 36
Figure 55: Flow editor - Flow properties tab.................................................................................................................................... 36
Figure 56: Creation of a waste treatment process ......................................................................................................................... 37
Figure 57: Waste flow as input in a waste treatment process .................................................................................................... 37
Figure 58: Waste input flow marked as avoided waste ................................................................................................................ 37
Figure 59: Product system, model graph – System expansion: waste flow as avoided waste on the output side of a
process. ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 38
Figure 60: Waste modelling. Waste treatment as a service for the process.......................................................................... 38
Figure 61: Difference between unit process and system process .............................................................................................. 39
Figure 62: Unit processes (purple font colour) and system processes (white font colour on purple background) ...... 39
Figure 63: Creating a new process, step 1 ........................................................................................................................................ 40
Figure 64: Creating a new process, step 2 ....................................................................................................................................... 40
Figure 65: Creation of waste treatment process ............................................................................................................................ 41
Figure 66: Process tab - General Information, data quality ......................................................................................................... 41
Figure 67: Process tab - Inputs/Outputs, Data quality for flows ............................................................................................... 42
Figure 68: Data quality systems directory in an active database.............................................................................................. 42
Figure 69: Data quality systems, indicators and scores ............................................................................................................... 42
Figure 70: Create new data quality system, step 1 ........................................................................................................................ 43
Figure 71: Create new data quality system, step 2......................................................................................................................... 43
Figure 72: Flow provider ....................................................................................................................................................................... 44
Figure 73: Adding a reviewer or source to processes .................................................................................................................... 44
Figure 74: Global, Input and Dependent parameters ................................................................................................................... 45
Figure 75: Creation of a global parameter ....................................................................................................................................... 46
Figure 76: Parameter usage throughout the database ................................................................................................................ 46
Figure 77: Physical, causal and economic allocation ..................................................................................................................... 48
Figure 78: Flow property mass ............................................................................................................................................................ 48
Figure 79: System expansion, marking an avoided product in a process................................................................................ 48
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Figure 80: System expansion - avoided product in model graph ............................................................................................. 49
Figure 81: Social indicators in "Indicators and parameters" directory ...................................................................................... 49
Figure 82: Social indicators, General information tab .................................................................................................................. 50
Figure 83: Process, social aspects ....................................................................................................................................................... 50
Figure 84: Process - Social aspects, modify social indicators ....................................................................................................... 51
Figure 85: Process - Social aspects, add a social indicator ............................................................................................................ 51
Figure 86: Importing LCIA methods, step 1 ...................................................................................................................................... 52
Figure 87: Importing LCIA methods, step 2 ...................................................................................................................................... 52
Figure 88: Importing LCIA methods, step 3 ...................................................................................................................................... 53
Figure 89: LCIA methods in openLCA ................................................................................................................................................. 53
Figure 90: LCIA methods - General information tab .................................................................................................................... 54
Figure 91: Shape files tab, import files .............................................................................................................................................. 55
Figure 92: Shape files tab, import files, show in map ................................................................................................................... 55
Figure 93: Map displaying the values of the selected parameter for all the features included in the imported shape
file .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 56
Figure 94: Shape files tab, Evaluate for existing locations selection ....................................................................................... 56
Figure 95: Creating a product system, step 1 ................................................................................................................................... 57
Figure 96: Creating a product system, step 2 ................................................................................................................................. 58
Figure 97: Product system - General information tab ..................................................................................................................60
Figure 98: Product system model graph - example ....................................................................................................................... 61
Figure 99: Model graph - miniature view ........................................................................................................................................ 62
Figure 100: Model graph - build next tier ........................................................................................................................................ 62
Figure 101: Model graph - search providers for, step 1 .................................................................................................................. 63
Figure 102: Model graph - search providers for, step 2................................................................................................................. 63
Figure 103: Model graph- search providers for, connected process .......................................................................................... 63
Figure 104: Model graph - drawing connections, step 1 ............................................................................................................... 64
Figure 105: Model graph - drawing connections, step 2 .............................................................................................................. 64
Figure 106: Model graph - deleting connections ........................................................................................................................... 65
Figure 107: Product system statistics ................................................................................................................................................ 66
Figure 108: Drag-and-drop of a product system into another product system ..................................................................... 67
Figure 109: Drag-and-drop of a product system into the input flows of a process .............................................................. 67
Figure 110: Calculating a product system, step 1 ............................................................................................................................ 68
Figure 111: Calculating a product system, step 2 ............................................................................................................................ 69
Figure 112: Calculating a product system, assessing data quality, step 1 ................................................................................. 69
Figure 113: Calculating a product system - assessing data quality, step 2 ............................................................................... 70
Figure 114: Quick results - General information tab ....................................................................................................................... 71
Figure 115: Quick results - Inventory results tab .............................................................................................................................. 72
Figure 116: Quick results - Inventory results, inputs section ........................................................................................................ 72
Figure 117: Quick results - Inventory analysis - data quality information ................................................................................. 73
Figure 118: Quick results - inventory analysis, added value calculation .................................................................................... 73
Figure 119: Quick results - LCIA Results tab....................................................................................................................................... 73
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Figure 120: Quick analysis - Impact Analysis, data quality .......................................................................................................... 74
Figure 121: LCIA checks tab ................................................................................................................................................................... 74
Figure 122: Impact analysis tab ............................................................................................................................................................ 75
Figure 123: Impact factors tab ............................................................................................................................................................. 76
Figure 124: Quick results - Locations tab ........................................................................................................................................... 77
Figure 125: Creating a new group, step 1 .......................................................................................................................................... 78
Figure 126: Creating a new group, step 2 ......................................................................................................................................... 78
Figure 127: Quick results - Grouping tab .......................................................................................................................................... 79
Figure 128: Saving groups .................................................................................................................................................................... 79
Figure 129: Analysis - Process results tab .......................................................................................................................................... 81
Figure 130: Analysis - Contribution tree tab .................................................................................................................................... 82
Figure 131: Analysis - Contribution tree tab, cost category .......................................................................................................... 82
Figure 132: Analysis - Sankey diagram .............................................................................................................................................. 83
Figure 133: Regionalized LCA – locations .......................................................................................................................................... 84
Figure 134: Regionalized LCA - KML editor ....................................................................................................................................... 85
Figure 135: Regionalized LCA - Calculation framework ................................................................................................................ 85
Figure 136: Shape file parameter in the "Parameters" tab of the LCIA method editor ........................................................ 86
Figure 137: Regionalized LCA - Parameters applied to CFs ........................................................................................................... 86
Figure 138: Calculation properties for Regionalized LCA performance .................................................................................... 87
Figure 139: Regionalized LCA - Result map ...................................................................................................................................... 88
Figure 140: Monte Carlo simulation – creation of a process subtracting one process to the other for future
comparison in Monte Carlo simulation ........................................................................................................................................... 89
Figure 141: Adding uncertainty information, step 1 ....................................................................................................................... 89
Figure 142: Adding uncertainty information, step 2 .....................................................................................................................90
Figure 143: Adding uncertainty information to LCIA characterisation factors .......................................................................90
Figure 144: Monte Carlo Simulation, step 1 .....................................................................................................................................90
Figure 145: Monte Carlo Simulation, step 2 ...................................................................................................................................... 91
Figure 146: Monte Carlo Simulation, step 3 ..................................................................................................................................... 91
Figure 147: Monte Carlo Simulation results with the progress of the calculation ................................................................ 92
Figure 148: Pin/unpin processes or subsystems ............................................................................................................................. 93
Figure 149: Specification of costs and revenues for input and output flows in a process .................................................. 94
Figure 150: LCC - Choice of allocation method when performing LCC ..................................................................................... 94
Figure 151: Uncertainty given to a price parameter ....................................................................................................................... 95
Figure 152: Calculation of total and stage added value ............................................................................................................... 95
Figure 153: Performance of LCC stand-alone, no impact assessment method is selected .................................................. 96
Figure 154: Contribution tree referred to the selected cost category ....................................................................................... 96
Figure 155: Creating a new project, step 1 ........................................................................................................................................ 97
Figure 156: Creating a new project, step 2 ....................................................................................................................................... 97
Figure 157: Project setup, LCIA method selection ........................................................................................................................... 98
Figure 158: Adding product systems to a project ........................................................................................................................... 98
Figure 159: Project setup, Variants .................................................................................................................................................... 99
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Figure 160: Parameter definition in processes ............................................................................................................................... 99
Figure 161: Project setup, Parameters ............................................................................................................................................... 99
Figure 162: Project setup, Process contributions result example ............................................................................................ 100
Figure 163: Exporting a report in html format .............................................................................................................................. 100
Figure 164: Expanding memory on a mac, step 1 .......................................................................................................................... 101
Figure 165: Expanding memory on a mac, step 2 .......................................................................................................................... 101
Figure 166: Expanding memory on a mac, step 3 .........................................................................................................................102
Figure 167: Accessing scripting ..........................................................................................................................................................102
Figure 168: openLCA logger for scripting ........................................................................................................................................102
Figure 169: Running script example .................................................................................................................................................103
Figure 170: Error popup........................................................................................................................................................................103
Figure 171: Run button in the toolbar .............................................................................................................................................. 104
Figure 172: Output of code ................................................................................................................................................................. 104
Figure 173: Read and write csv files in openLCA ........................................................................................................................... 106
Figure 174: Loading JavaScript files ................................................................................................................................................. 106
Figure 175: Method declarations in API documentation ............................................................................................................. 110
Figure 176: Classes and dependencies of core model ................................................................................................................... 111
Figure 177: Comparison of inventory results for SimaPro and openLCA .................................................................................. 112
Figure 178: PC features .......................................................................................................................................................................... 113

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Tables
Table 1: Ratio of results from SimaPro and openLCA in a calculation comparison, 5 lowest ............................................. 112
Table 2: Ratio of results from SimaPro and openLCA in a calculation comparison, 5 highest ........................................... 113
Table 3: openLCA and SimaPro performance comparison in network/analysis calculation .............................................. 113

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1 Introduction

1.1 Introduction to openLCA

openLCA is an open source software for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and sustainability assessment. It has
been developed by GreenDelta since 2006 (www.greendelta.com). As an open source software, it is freely
available, without license costs (www.openlca.org). The source code can be viewed and changed by
anyone. Furthermore, the open source nature of the software makes it very suitable for use with sensitive
data. The software as well as any models created can be shared freely, if the database license allows it.
openLCA can be used for several different applications, for example:

• LCA, Life Cycle Costing (LCC), Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA)
• Carbon & water footprints
• Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)
• United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Design for the Environment label
• Integrated Product Policy (IPP)

This text focuses on the 1.9 version of openLCA. It explains how to carry out the first steps in working with
openLCA such as installation and importing databases. This document then provides an overview of
openLCA operations and features including descriptions of how to use them.

www.openLCA.org offers many different services to openLCA potential and current users. The website
provides links to download the software, the source code, the openLCA LCIA (Life Cycle Impact
Assessment) Method Pack, case studies, and user manuals, among other things. There are also links to
instructional videos and documents in the "Learning and Support" section (www.openlca.org/learning).
The ask.openLCA website (https://ask.openlca.org) is a question and answer website which serves as a
public support platform. Furthermore, the openLCA team manages a twitter account (@openLCA) and a
LinkedIn group (openLCA: free, professional Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Footprint software) to keep
users up-to-date on news and recent developments.

1.1.1 What is new in version 1.10.1

Images in process description
Images (for example flowcharts) that support the information given in the process description and are
linked by the database provider are now visible in the ‘general information’ tab of processes.

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openLCA for MacOS and Linux improvements
Several improvements and bug fixes for Linux and MacOS users have been implemented. More
technically-oriented users can learn more by reading about these improvements on the openLCA GitHub
page. The main improvements are that openLCA can now run on Linux using GTK3, fixing the memory
allocation issue for MacOS and accessing the map view in the results tap for all users.

1.2 Introduction to GreenDelta

GreenDelta was founded by Dr Andreas Ciroth in 2004. Since the beginning, the core idea has been to
provide life cycle-based consulting to businesses world-wide. GreenDelta has been developing openLCA
since 2006. We continuously improve the software, expand its features and capabilities and keep it up-
to-date with current LCA practice. We are at the forefront of LCA knowledge, offering specialized features
such as regionalized LCIA as well as the ecoinvent 3.1 database. Next to software development, GreenDelta
also offers Sustainability Consulting services such as guided case studies, research, critical reviews, EPDs
and data management solutions. GreenDelta has an international reputation for pioneering professional
yet free open source solutions for LCA and for our role as a common denominator in the international LCA
community.

1.3 Introduction to openLCA Nexus

openLCA Nexus (https://nexus.openlca.org) is an online repository for LCA data. It combines data offered
by world-leading LCA data providers such as the ecoinvent centre (ecoinvent database), PE International
(GaBi databases), and the Joint Research Centre from the European Commission (ELCD database).

Datasets provided in Nexus can be easily imported into the openLCA software. openLCA and Nexus
databases share a common set of elementary flows and other reference data which have been
harmonized in coordination with the respective data providers to overcome methodological differences,
for example concerning the modelling of waste.

Nexus contains free and “for purchase” data sets. For ordering and downloading databases from Nexus
you need to sign up using a valid email address. The procedure here is very similar to a web shop: simply
add the database into a shopping cart and order it. To find out more on how to download databases from
openLCA Nexus and import them into openLCA, please see section 4.4.

The Nexus website contains a powerful search engine for LCA data that allows you to search for data sets
in Nexus. It is also possible to filter data sets by the data provider, location, category, price and year of
validity. We hope this makes it easy to identify the LCA data that you need.

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Figure 1: openLCA Nexus search engine

2 Installation
The installation of openLCA is slightly different for Windows, Mac and Linux, respectively. The following
sections will explain how to install the software on different systems.

2.1 Windows
For windows, a 64-bit version is available.
Hardware, required:

• CPU with 2 GHz or higher

• 1 GB RAM (for analysing product systems with ~2500 processes, such as ecoinvent 2)
• >3 GB RAM (for analysing product systems such as ecoinvent 3)
• 6 GB RAM (for analysing product systems such as ecoinvent 3.4 or Psilca for social LCA)
• 500 MB free hard disk space + space for databases (e.g. ecoinvent 3 requires ~250MB)

Software required for the “Projects” feature:

• Windows 64 bit (for modern browser support): Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable package
(x64) (http://www.microsoft.com/de-de/download/details.aspx?id=14632)

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The fastest way to get openLCA is to download the ZIP-archive. After decompressing, simply launch the
executable file (Figure 2) and the program starts. No installation is needed.

Figure 2: Decompressed ZIP file

Alternatively, the software can be installed. Start by downloading the installer file from the downloads
page of the openLCA website. As usual in Windows installation, you can select whether openLCA should
be used only by the user who installs (i.e. by you), or by anybody working on the computer (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Setup screen for installation in Windows

Follow the installation steps to the end and you can begin working with openLCA.

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2.2 Mac
A 64-bit version is available for Mac OS.
Hardware, required:

• CPU with 2 GHz or higher

• 1 GB RAM (for analysing product systems with ~2500 processes, such as ecoinvent 2)
• >3 GB RAM (for analysing product systems such as ecoinvent 3)
• 500 MB free hard disk space + space for databases (e.g. ecoinvent 3 requires ~250MB)

Software, required:

• Java in version 8; install Java before beginning with the openLCA installation (Java SE
Development Kit for Mac OS available under
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html).

Figure 4: Installation file for Mac OS

Start by downloading the correct file from the downloads page of the openLCA website. Once the
download is complete find the program in the "Downloads" folder (Figure 4) and transfer it into
"Applications". Double-click on the program to open it. A warning message will appear because the
application was downloaded from the internet and not from the App Store. Select "open". This message
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will only appear the first time you open the program.

2.3 Linux
For Linux, a 64-bit version is available.
Hardware, required:

• CPU with 2 GHz or higher

• 1 GB RAM (for analysing product systems with ~2500 processes, such as ecoinvent 2)
• >3 GB RAM (for analysing product systems such as ecoinvent 3)
• 500 MB free hard disk space + space for databases (e.g. ecoinvent 3 requires ~250MB)

We recommend installing libgfortran3 for high performance calculations.

3 Welcome to openLCA
When you start openLCA for the first time, it does not contain any data. On the left-hand side, you see an
empty Navigation field. On the right you see the Welcome page in the so-called "Editor".

Figure 5: openLCA Welcome page

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The Welcome page provides quick links to openLCA Nexus, instructional videos, case studies, this user
manual, the openLCA download page where you can download the latest version of the software as well
as LCIA methods and, finally, a link to more information on the openLCA network and its users.

On the top-right part of the page the “Search” function gives you the possibility to look for anything you
like in openLCA (e.g. flows, processes, social indicators, currencies, etc.) searching in all or in one specific
section.

Figure 6: Search function in openLCA

3.1 Main menu functions

The following options are available under "File":

• "Save" / "Save As..." / "Save All": save current work open in editor tabs
• "Close" / "Close All": close the current/all windows open in the editor.
• "Settings":
o “Collaboration”: set server configurations.
o “Configuration”: select one of the eleven available languages you would like to work in
(Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
or Turkish). Here you can also select the maximum memory usage. It is recommended to
increase this value for calculating very complex product systems (e.g. to ~4,000MB). This
feature does not work for Mac OS. If you would like to expand your memory on a Mac OS
operating system, please see section 11.1. Please note: you need to restart openLCA to
activate configuration changes.

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 o “Experimental features”: experimental features are features that are still in the beta stage
of development, but we want to make them available to you and welcome any feedback.
o “Import/export”: set ILCD Network URL, User, Password and language.
o “Logging”: Set logging settings.
o “Number format”: Set the number of decimal places for numbers displayed.
• "Import" / "Export": For more information on openLCA Import and Export options, see sections 4.4
and 4.7 respectively.
• “Exit”: Closes openLCA

The following options are available under “Database” when a database is opened:

• “New Database”: For creating a new database, see section 4.1. It is also possible to activate the
“New Database” function by right-clicking the navigation window.
• “Restore Database”: For restoring a database, see section 4.2. It is also possible to activate the
“Restore Database” function by right-clicking the navigation window.
• “Backup Database”: Copy the database into an archive file to save it.
• “Validate”: Checks whether all linkages within the database are working.
• “Copy”: create a copy of the active database
• “Rename”: rename the active database
• “Delete Database”: Removes the database from the main window
• “Close Database”: Closes the active database
• “Check linking properties”: A comprehensive provider check of the active database that displays
the results in a table, showing if processes without a default provider exist, if product or waste
flows exist with multiple providers, if and which product flows have multiple providers and what
provider linking options are uncritical when working with the active database.
• “Properties”: Shows extended information about the database such as its location on the PC.
• “Compress database”: Compresses the database to save space on the hard drive.
• “Open Update Manager”: With the update manager it is possible to update the openLCA software

The following options are available under "Window" after clicking on “show views” and “other”:

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Figure 7: Options from the "Window" tab
• “Commit History”: Shows the commit history of the synchronisation with the collaboration server,
see section 4.8.
• “Navigation”: The Navigation window displays the databases you have imported into openLCA
and all the data sets they include
• “Problems”: List all synchronisation problems with the collaboration server, see section 4.8
• “Sync repository”: Synchronise with the collaboration server, see section 4.8
• “Console”: Displays the log
• “Minimap”: Not available, a residue from creating openLCA with eclipse
• “Outline”: Displays a list of all the processes of a product system, including all its background
processes. It is only applicable after you’ve created a product system. Open the product system’s
Model Graph (tab) and choose the “Outline” option from “Views”. The outline allows you to
choose the processes you wish to show or hide from the Model Graph.
• “Palette”: Not available, a residue from creating openLCA with eclipse
• “Properties”: Not available, a residue from creating openLCA with eclipse

Furthermore, the following options are available under “Window”:

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 • “Parameters”: The parameter overview lists all parameters in the active database regardless of
whether they are local or global. Upon opening the parameter overview, right-click -> Evaluate
formulas allows to evaluate the underlying formulas. The filter field allows to search for specific
parameters or to filter for errors. Via right-click -> Edit, formulas can be changed directly from the
parameter overview.
• "Developer Tools": (to find out more details on scripting in openLCA, see Section 12.2)
o “SQL”: A tool that can be used to carry out SQL queries in openLCA.
o “JavaScript”: openLCA supports the possibility to run JavaScript programs directly in
openLCA. With this feature you can automate calculations in openLCA, write your own
data imports or exports, perform sensitivity analysis calculations by varying parameter
values, and much more. See section 11.2.2 for more information.
o “Python”: openLCA supports the possibility to run Python programs directly in openLCA.
With this feature you can automate calculations in openLCA, write your own data imports
or exports, perform sensitivity analysis calculations by varying parameter values, and
much more. See section 11.2.1 for more information.
o “IPC Server”: Inter Process Communication is a platform-independent data exchange
interface via http. IPC Server allows to run openLCA services via the Python’s standard
library.
• "Bulk-replace": it is a tool that allows replacement of a flow or product provider with another flow
or provider.
• "Formula interpreter": Complex formulas for parameters must be typed in using the correct
format. Use this interpreter to check if your formulas are correct. Start by opening the formula
interpreter and then type 'help' to display the help message (Figure 8)

•
Figure 8: openLCA Formula Interpreter
Under "Help" you can find information on the openLCA copyright and openLCA log file as well as a link to

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this user manual.

3.2 Tabs
openLCA sorts each new window into a tab next to the welcome icon in the main window. A right-click on
a tab offers various tab management options that improve the usability of openLCA (Figure 9).

Figure 9: Right-clicking a tab

Tabs can be detached and moved around on the screen. Dragging and dropping a detached tab next to an
existing tab in openLCA reverses the detaching. Detaching tabs allows you to run openLCA in a single-
window and multi-window mode, especially when working with multiple screens

4 Databases
Following installation openLCA does not contain any data, therefore the ‘navigation’ section on the left is
empty (Figure 10). It is possible to have more than one database. Databases are independent of each other
and only one database is "active" at a time. All the others are "inactive". It is also possible to combine
databases (section 4.4)

Figure 10: Empty Navigation window following openLCA installation

To change this, you can either:
• Create a new, empty database, or

• Restore a database.

4.1 Creating a new, empty database

Right-click in the navigation window and select "New database":

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Figure 11: Creating a new database, step 1
The data creation wizard will then appear where you can select your settings for the new database:

Figure 12: Creating a new database, step 2 (data creation wizard)

For the beginning, it is recommended to create the database with the settings ‘local database’ and
‘complete reference data’. Then select "Finish". After a few seconds, you can have a look at the newly
created database:

Figure 13: New database containing openLCA reference data only

The elements of the database will be familiar to you if you have worked with previous versions of
openLCA. They will be explained in more detail in section 4.6.

The openLCA reference database contains flows, indicators and parameters, and background data. All the

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databases available in openLCA Nexus are mapped to ensure that the software recognizes and applies all
elements of each database correctly (for example, to ensure no double flows are created during import
and that the impact assessment methods available deliver correct results).

Figure 14: openLCA reference data

This database does not contain any process data sets. You can start creating your own processes using the
flows and units that are already present.

4.2 Restoring a database

As a second option, next to creating a new empty database, you can restore a database. Databases can for
example be a database downloaded from the openLCA Nexus website in zolca format. All the databases
available in openLCA Nexus are mapped to ensure that the software recognizes and applies all elements
of each database correctly. To restore a database, first create a new database as shown in Figure 11 &
Figure 12, but select “empty database”. Then right-clock again and select “restore database” as shown in
Figure 11 and select the database (zolca-format) from a folder. The progress bar is in the bottom right
corner.

4.2.1 Accessing databases from openLCA Nexus

As mentioned in section 1.3, openLCA Nexus (https://nexus.openlca.org) is an online repository for LCA
data. Nexus contains for free and for purchase databases. You can browse through the content of the
offered databases using the search engine in the sections "LCA data search" and "Map". Using the LCA
data search feature, you can search for specific data sets according to name or category (i.e. database,
country, other location, Type of data, Category, Price and Start of validity). The openLCA Nexus Map is
interactive and illustrates how many data sets are available in different locations. The darker the shade
on the map, the more data sets are available for that region. The search can also be reduced by name and

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by type.

Figure 15: openLCA Nexus Map

To download a database from the openLCA Nexus site you need to first order it. Some databases in
openLCA Nexus are available for free and some for charge. To order a database, begin by registering an
account.1 Once you are logged in, go to the "Databases" section and select the license you are interested
in. Then add the license you want to purchase to the cart and order it. To find out more about licenses and
how to place an order in openLCA Nexus, please see the website's FAQs.

Once you have made an order and it is approved, you can download the database in the "Downloads"
section which will appear in the top right-hand corner of the Nexus website when you are logged in. In
this section, you will see all the data files available to you for download. Select the files you would like to
download as well as the format (e.g. openLCA 1.5). Once you have read and agreed with the licenses and
the EULA, check off the two boxes at the bottom, then select "Download" (Figure 16).

1
Registration is quick and helps us to understand and meet the needs of the user base. We are bound to our high data
protection principles and protect your privacy.
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Figure 16: Downloading a database from openLCA Nexus

4.3 Database scheme update

openLCA features an updated database scheme. Upon opening databases with an old database scheme,
openLCA will automatically prompt for an update. For very critical data it is recommended to create a
backup before changing to a new database scheme.

4.4 Importing and combining databases

It is possible to combine databases into one openLCA database. Databases can for example be a database
downloaded from the openLCA Nexus website. All the databases available in openLCA Nexus are mapped
to ensure that the software recognizes and applies all elements of each database correctly (for example,
to ensure no double flows are created during import and that the impact assessment methods available
deliver correct results).
To combine databases, import the first database (we recommend importing the largest database first as
otherwise the time it takes to compile the databases can be much longer). Then activate the database by
double-clicking on it. At this point you can import the other databases. The software will then combine
the two databases. Dependent on the size of the databases, this can take a minute or two. Click here to
see an instructional video on combining ecoinvent 3.1 databases.

openLCA supports the following import formats:

• zolca
• Ecospold1
• Ecospold2
• Excel
• ILCD
• SimaPro CSV
• JSON-LD

4.4.1 Importing a database from exported zolca-File

Once you have a zolca file saved on your computer, you can import it directly to openLCA. To do this, select

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“File”, “Import”, “Import entire database” and finally the second option "From exported zolca-File":

Figure 17: Importing an existing zolca database, step 1

Figure 18: Importing an existing zolca database, step 2

Figure 19: Importing an existing zolca database, step 3

Then find the ‘zolca’ file you would like to import in your browser and select "Open". The database will be

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'inactive' at first. To activate a database, double-click on it. Then you will have access to all the flows,
processes, etc. the database contains.
It is faster to get zolca-format databases by using the “restore database” strategy (see section 4.2).

4.4.2 Importing an existing database

It is possible to import data from an existing database into the active database. To do this, select “File”,
“Import”, “Import entire database” and finally the first option "Existing database". Step 1 and 2 are the
same as in the previous section.

Figure 20: Importing an existing database into an active database, step 3

4.4.3 Importing databases in ecospold, Excel, ILCD, SimaPro CSV, and JSON-LD formats
These file types can be imported into existing openLCA databases. If necessary, create a new, empty
database. Before importing, double-click on the target database to activate it. Then go to "File" -->
"Import". Then select the format and select the import file from the directory. For ecospold 1&2 it is
necessary to check and assign units. Select "Finish" to import the data (depending on the data, the import
can take a couple of minutes). Note: databases in ILCD format must be imported as zip files. See Figure 21,
Figure 22, and Figure 23 as examples. JSON-LD is the in-house format for openLCA. It is possible to import
whole databases or just certain product systems.

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Figure 21: Importing a database, step 1

Figure 22: Importing a database, step 2

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Figure 23: Importing a database, step 3
It is also possible to simply copy data from excel into openLCA, as shown in Figure 24, Figure 25, and Figure
26.

Figure 24: Copy data from excel

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Figure 25: Paste it into the “Inputs” or “Outputs” section

Figure 26: Data is copied

4.5 Creating a remote database

You can also create a remote database. The name should be the same as in the remote database, and you
need to type in the information of the “Host”, “Port” and “User” from the remote database you want to
connect (Figure 27).

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Figure 27: Connecting to a remote database

4.6 Database elements

Project

Product
Sources
system

Process Actors

Flow
LCIA method Flow Unit groups
properties

Indicators and
Currencies Locations
parameters

Figure 28: Database element structure and flow of information

The databases in openLCA contain the following elements:

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 • Actors: people who have provided data or modified models
• Currencies: cost can be assigned to flows and Life Cycle Costing can be performed
• Locations: important for regionalized LCA
• Sources: literature referenced
• Unit groups: groups of units (e.g. units of area include m2, ft2, sq. yd, etc.)
• Flow properties: properties of flows (e.g. length, mass, etc.)
• Flows: products and materials
• Processes: production or modification of products and materials
• Impact methods: impact assessment methods imported into openLCA
• Product systems: process networks (necessary to calculate inventory results and impact
assessment)
• Projects: can be created to compare product system variants
• Indicators and parameters: social indicators, global parameters, data quality systems

4.7 Exporting data

openLCA supports data export in the following formats:

• Ecospold2 (entire databases, impact methods, processes,)

• ILCD Zip-file (actors, flow properties, flows, LCIA methods, processes, product systems, sources,
unit groups)
• ILCD Network Export (entire databases, processes)
• Excel (processes, quick results, analysis results, Monte Carlo simulation results, product systems)
• JSON-LD
• "Copy" function for all openLCA tables

How to export these data types will be explained in the following sections.

4.7.1 Exporting data in EcoSpold formats

Processes and impact assessment methods can be exported in EcoSpold1 format. EcoSpold2 files can be
created for processes only. To export these file types, activate the database from which you would like to
export processes/impact assessment methods. Then click on "File" --> "Export". The export wizard will pop
up. Select "EcoSpold2" to export processes as EcoSpold2 files, or "Impact methods" or "Processes" to export
these as EcoSpold1 files. In the next window select the directory and processes/LCIA methods to be
exported and click "Finish".
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Figure 29: Exporting as EcoSpold1 and EcoSpold2, step 1

Figure 30: Exporting as EcoSpold1 and EcoSpold2, step 2

Figure 31: Exporting as EcoSpold1 and EcoSpold2, step 3

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4.7.2 Exporting data in Excel format
OpenLCA can export processes, quick results, analysis results, Monte Carlo simulation results, product
systems (elementary flows and product flows) and LCIA factors in Excel format. It is also possible to copy
any tables from openLCA and paste them elsewhere.

• To export processes as excel files begin by activating the database from which data should be
exported. Then select "File" → "Export" as illustrated in Figure 29. The export wizard will pop up.
Select "Processes" in the Excel folder and click "Next". Then select the location where the data
should be saved as well as the processes to be saved and click "Finish". Each process will be saved
as an individual excel file.
• To export quick results, analysis results, and Monte Carlo simulation results you can either click on
the excel export icon in the top left-hand corner or select the "Export to Excel" button under the
"General information" tab of the results editor (Figure 32).

Figure 32: Exporting results as excel file

• To export product systems as excel first select the product system in the Navigator to open it up
in the Editor. You can then select the excel export icon in the top left-hand corner (Figure 33). The
product system excel export wizard will open. The "Methods" section can be filled out or left blank.
Select an export directory and click "Finish" (Figure 34). A folder with one excel file for Elementary
Flows and one for Product Flows will be saved.

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 Figure 33: Exporting product system as excel file, step 1

Figure 34: Exporting product system as excel file, step 2

4.7.3 Exporting data in ILCD ZIP-file format

openLCA can export the actors, flow properties, flows, LCIA methods, processes, product systems, sources
and Unit groups in ILCD format. To do so, activate the database from which you would like to export. Then
click on "File" → "Export". The export wizard will pop up. Select what database elements you would like to
export in ILCD format. Then select a directory and the processes, flows, etc. to be exported and select
"Finish".

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Figure 35: Exporting as ILCD, step 1

Figure 36: Exporting as ILCD, step 2

4.7.4 Exporting data as html file

openLCA can export Project results as in html format. To do so, calculate a project (see section 10 to find
out how), then select the "Export report" icon when the Report Viewer is open in the Editor (Figure 37).
Then simply select a directory and click "Okay".

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Figure 37: Exporting Project results as html file

4.7.5 Exporting data as CSV-Matrix

openLCA can export the Graph of a product system in CSV-Matrix format. To do so, open the product
system you would like to export, then click on the "Matrix export" icon on the top left-hand side (Figure
38). The export wizard will appear. Here you can select the desired decimal and column separators as well
as the file destinations for the technology and intervention matrix files (Figure 39). The files will be saved
in excel format.

Figure 38: Exporting project results in SimaPro CSV format, step 1

Figure 39: Exporting project results in SimaPro CSV format, step 2

4.7.6 Export data as JSON-LD file

Databases can be exported in JSON-LD format. To export these file types, activate the database from

27
which you would like to export processes/impact assessment methods. Then click on "File" -->
"Export"(Figure 40). The export wizard will pop up. Select "JSON-LD" to export processes as JSON-LD files
(Figure 41). In the next window select the elements to be exported and click "Finish" (Figure 42).

Figure 40: Exporting as JSON-LD file, step 1

Figure 41: Exporting as JSON-LD file, step 2

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Figure 42: Exporting as JSON-LD file, step 3

4.7.7 "Copy" function for all openLCA tables

The information presented in all openLCA tables can be copied from the openLCA editor and pasted
elsewhere (e.g. in excel, notepad, etc.). To select the columns and rows you would like to copy, select one
cell, hold the "Shift" button on your keyboard and then select another cell in the table. All rows and
columns in between will be marked. Then you can either right-click and select "Copy" or use the "ctrl/c"
function on your keyboard to copy the table. Figure 43 shows an example from a process in the ELCD
database (available for free at openLCA Nexus).

Figure 43: Copying data from openLCA tables

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4.8 Link with Collaboration Server
A link between openLCA and a Collaboration Server is established to facilitate group work and establish
a multi-user environment, which means that different users should be able to work with the same
database and that quality assurance (e.g. tracking of changes) is needed. The Collaboration Server has the
following main functions:

• User rights management system

• All changes are documented
• Versioning allows roll-backs
• A diff tool shows where data differs before accepting changes

A comprehensive manual for the Collaboration Server can be found here. An exemplary case (Figure 44) is
presented to show how this Collaboration Server works.

Figure 44: Collaboration Server, exemplary use case

By right-clicking on the active database it is possible to connect to a repository where User 1 and User 2

30
are members, see Figure 45 .

Figure 45: Collaboration server – connecting local database to repository

Figure 46: Collaboration Server - User 1 connects locale database to repository

At this point User 1 can commit data changes to repository and the data appear on the Collaboration

31
Server.

Figure 47: Collaboration Server - User 1 commits changes to repository

Now User 2 can connect to the same repository and fetch data. A summary of the differences to the local
database appears.

32
Figure 48: Collaboration server - User 2 connects to the same repository and fetches data

Figure 49: Collaboration server - summary of differences to local database

User 2 can make changes in local data and commit again to repository and at this point User 1 must fetch

33
changes from User 2 before committing changes in local database. The diff tool shows the differences in
the data between local and remote model.

Figure 50: Collaboration server - Diff tool

It is finally possible to show the history of changes both in the web app (just click on “Commits”) and in
openLCA (click on “Window”, “Show views”, “other” and then select “Commit history”), see Figure 51 and
Figure 52.

Figure 51: Collaboration server - Commit history in openLCA, step 1

Figure 52: Collaboration server - Commit history in openLCA, step 2

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5 Flows

5.1 Creating a new flow

To create a new flow, right-click on the “Flows” folder and select “New flow”. Name flow and define flow
type and reference flow property, then click “Finish“. A new flow window will open in the editor (Figure
53).

Figure 53: Creating a new flow

It is possible to define if the flow type is a product, an elementary flow or a waste flow. Furthermore, a
reference flow property must be defined (e.g. duration, energy, volume, etc.)

5.2 Flow tab contents

5.2.1 General information

In the General information tab, you can see and change the name and add a description. It is also possible
to add additional information such as a CAS number, formula and location. Under "Used in Processes", you
can see which process consume the flow and which produce the flow. If you double-click on a process
under "Used in processes", it will open in the editor.

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Figure 54: Flow editor - General information tab

5.2.2 Flow properties

Additional flow properties can be added in the “Flow properties” tab. Make sure to type in the correct
conversion factor and to select the correct flow property as the reference when multiple flows are listed.

Figure 55: Flow editor - Flow properties tab

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5.3 Waste modelling with the actual flow direction
One of the most important new features in OpenLCA since version 1.7.0 is the possibility to create a waste
treatment process from a waste flow which results then as an input process.

Figure 56: Creation of a waste treatment process

Figure 57: Waste flow as input in a waste treatment process

Furthermore, when applying system expansion, it is possible to mark an input waste flow as an avoided
waste, Figure 58. This means an expense in the Cost column because the flow is considered as an output,
as also shown in grey colour in the model graph of the product system (Figure 59).

Figure 58: Waste input flow marked as avoided waste

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Figure 59: Product system, model graph – System expansion: waste flow as avoided waste on the output side of a
process.
However, it is still possible to model waste flows as in the previous openLCA versions (below 1.7.0), which
means considering the waste treatment as a “service” for the process to eliminate the product. In this case
the waste flow is an output in the waste treatment process and the waste treatment process is an input
in the process considered. Attention must be paid to the positive or negative values to be inserted in the
Amount column.

Figure 60: Waste modelling. Waste treatment as a service for the process

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6 Processes
Processes can be either “unit processes” or “system processes”. A process is an activity that transforms an
input into an output. The simplest form of a process in openLCA is a unit process. In the left half of Figure
61, each process from A to G is a unit process.

An aggregated process, as visible in the right half of Figure 61, is called a system process in openLCA. It is
an aggregated life cycle result which is saved as a process for easy usage.

Figure 61: Difference between unit process and system process

Figure 62 shows how unit processes and system processes are displayed in the navigation window.

Figure 62: Unit processes (purple font colour) and system processes (white font colour on purple background)

6.1 Creating a new process

To create a new process, right-click on the “Processes” folder and select “New process”. Name the process
and select a quantitative reference (the reference output of this process). It is also possible to create a new
product flow for the process. The product flow will automatically be given the same name as the process.
Once "Finish" is clicked, the new process will open in the editor.
An input flow or any elementary flow can also be used as a quantitative reference.

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Figure 63: Creating a new process, step 1

Figure 64: Creating a new process, step 2

Furthermore, it is possible to create a waste treatment process selecting a waste flow previously created
as quantitative reference (the reference input of this process).

40
Figure 65: Creation of waste treatment process

6.2 Process tab contents

6.2.1 General information

In the General information tab of a process you can change the name, add description, set the quantitative
reference, and add time, geography, technology and data quality information. If the database provider
attached any images in their process description, the image will be visible here. It is also possible to create
a product system from here (to find out how see section 8.1).

6.2.2 General information - Data quality

The last section in the General information tab is about data quality. It is possible to select a data quality
system for the process, flows and social aspects. Data quality entry for the process must be defined in the
General information section, Figure 66. On the other side, data quality information for flows (Figure 67)
and social assessment needs to be selected in “Inputs/Outputs” (see section 6.2.3) and “Social aspects”
(see section 6.2.8) respectively.

Figure 66: Process tab - General Information, data quality

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Figure 67: Process tab - Inputs/Outputs, Data quality for flows
Data quality system can be selected among the systems available in the “Data quality systems” directory
in the “Indicators and parameters” section of the active database.

Figure 68: Data quality systems directory in an active database

If you double-click on an existing data quality system (e.g. ecoinvent data quality system) a “General
information” tab is displayed. Scores for different indicators are shown as well as uncertainty values to be
assigned to the previous indicators, see Figure 69.

Figure 69: Data quality systems, indicators and scores

It is also possible to create a new database if you right-click on the “Data Quality Systems” directory and

42
select “New data quality system”. It is then possible to add indicators, scores and uncertainties.

Figure 70: Create new data quality system, step 1

Figure 71: Create new data quality system, step 2

6.2.3 Inputs/Outputs
Here product, elementary and waste flows are listed as inputs/outputs. Information on respective
categories, amounts, units, cost/revenues, uncertainty, avoided waste, provider, data quality and
description are also contained in these tables. It is also possible to change units by clicking on the unit cell
and selecting a new unit from the list.

Amounts can be typed in as values, formulas and/or parameters. Complex formulas require a certain

43
format (e.g. Tan(a), trunc(c), etc.). Use the formula interpreter to find errors (available under "Window" →
"Formula interpreter"). When a formula and/or parameter is typed in the "Amount" field, the software will
calculate the value for the amount automatically. To see the calculated value, click on this button:
. To see the original formula/parameters, click on the button again. Under "Default provider"
you can select a specific flow provider (when more than one provider for a specific product flow exists).
Prices can be typed for each flow in input and output sections and they are displayed in green colour if
they are revenues or in violet colour if they are expenses.
To navigate to the provider of a flow. Simply right-click on a flow and select Open provider.

Figure 72: Flow provider

6.2.4 Administrative information

This section is quite self-explanatory. Entries to administrative information do not affect calculations.

6.2.5 Modelling and validation

Here it is possible to set the process type (as unit or system process) and add information about the
dataset. Add reviewers by clicking the "Add actors" icon in the section "Process evaluation and validation".
If the actor you would like to add is not included under "Actors", you can add an actor by right-clicking on
the "Actor" folder in the Navigation and selecting "New actor". To add a source, click on the green "+" icon
in the section "Sources". Once again, if the source you require is not listed, you can add a new one by right-
clicking on the "Sources" folder in the Navigation and selecting "New source".

Figure 73: Adding a reviewer or source to processes

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6.2.6 Parameters
Parameters can be used on the process, Impact assessment method, product system, project and database
levels. Parameters can be used instead of concrete values for inputs/outputs. They can be defined as
simple values, formulas or complex functions. Parameters can overwrite each other (e.g. the value set for
a parameter in a process can be overwritten on the product system/project levels).

There are some rules when it comes to parameters. Parameter names cannot contain special characters
or more than 1000 characters. Parameter formulas can contain single values, simple equations, or
complex functions including logical expressions. Parameter formulas do not contain units, (so please add
them in the description field) and cannot have more than 1000 characters. Theoretically, the number of
parameters is unlimited. When you assign an amount to a parameter, use point (.) instead of comma (,)
for the decimal numbers.

Figure 74: Global, Input and Dependent parameters

"Global" parameters can be found and are valid on all levels. "Input" parameters are parameters that are
only valid for the process/LCIA method/Product system in which they are saved. "Dependent" parameters
are parameters that include input or global parameters in their formula. See Figure 74 for an example.

New global, input and dependent parameters can be created within a process or impact assessment
method. These are then also available in product systems and projects (note: it is not possible to create a
new parameter on the product system or project levels). To create a global parameter, you can select
“Global parameters” in the "Indicators and Parameters" section in Navigation and if you right click a tab
for the creation of a new global parameter pops up. At this point you can enter name, description, type (if
it is an input or a dependent parameter) and amount (see Figure 75). To load the global parameter just

45
created select the “reload” button in the “Global parameters” section in “Parameters” tab in a process or
impact assessment method (see Figure 74).

Figure 75: Creation of a global parameter

The use of parameters within a database can now be checked via the ‘usage view’ feature (right-click on
a parameter and select “usage”).

Figure 76: Parameter usage throughout the database

6.2.7 Allocation
Usually, life cycle assessment requires single-output processes, but this is not always the case. Multi-
output processes (e.g. co-generation of heat and power, simultaneous milk, leather and meat production,
etc.), however, occur frequently. These situations can be dealt with using two different strategies, namely
through allocation (in which elementary flows and products from multi-output processes are
mathematically divided into multiple processes) or system expansion (to avoid allocation).

There are 3 allocation methods in openLCA:

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 • physical allocation
• causal allocation
• economic allocation

The values (allocation factors) for physical, causal and economic allocation can be viewed/altered in the
"Allocation" tab. For allocation to work, the main product and the co-products of the multi-output process
need to have the same flow property. Select the "Calculate default values" button and the software will
automatically calculate the values for all three allocation types. For physical allocation, the default
(reference) flow property is used to calculate they physical ratio between the main product and the co-
product on the bases of their amounts, e.g. in units of mass or energy. For economic allocation, the
allocation factors are based on the economic value of product flows. Thus, to apply economic allocation,
you first need to add an economic flow property to each product flow. Causal allocation can be applied by
manually inserting the desired allocation factors in the causal allocation section.

Figure 77 illustrates allocation for wood production. The physical allocation factors are automatically
calculated based on the ratio between the product outputs of the process as expressed in the reference
flow property (e.g. kg). For this example, the output flows for bark and wood are 0.30 kg and 1kg,
respectively, thus resulting in the physical allocation factors 0.23and 0.77. Economic allocation considers
the market values of the output product flows. Prices are set at 0.40 $/kg and 1 $/kg for bark and wood.
This results in the economic allocation factors you can see below. The causal allocation factors need to be
inserted manually based on assumptions/prior scientific research on the relative impacts arising from
each output, otherwise they are assumed to be those for physical allocation. In this case they are set to
0.4 and 0.6 for bark and wood respectively.

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Figure 77: Physical, causal and economic allocation

Figure 78: Flow property mass

To avoid allocation, system expansion can be performed by checking the box of “Avoided product” for the
by-product, see Figure 79. It is important that a process providing the avoided product flow exists. The
avoided product is then shown in grey in the model graph when creating the product system, see Figure
80 .

Figure 79: System expansion, marking an avoided product in a process

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Figure 80: System expansion - avoided product in model graph

6.2.8 Social aspects

This section shows contents only if a database for the performance of Social LCA is active. Databases for
Social LCA (e.g. Soca or Psilca) are available in OpenLCA Nexus website (https://nexus.openlca.org/), in the
Database section. Social indicators are available in the “Social Indicators” directory in the “Indicators and
parameters” section in the active database.

Figure 81: Social indicators in "Indicators and parameters" directory

To open one social indicator, you can double-click on it. General information, additional information about
unit of measurement and evaluation schema and activity variable (name, quantity and unit) are displayed.

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Figure 82: Social indicators, General information tab
For each process, the “Social Aspects” tab shows social indicators for different categories with information
on raw value, risk level (evaluated according to the amount of the “raw value”), activity variable, data
quality, comment and source. The risk-assessed indicators are characterised with the activity variable. For
instance, for the time being, all indicators use working hours as activity variable.

Figure 83: Process, social aspects

It is possible to modify a social indicator by double-clicking on it or by clicking on the pencil icon on the
top-right corner. A window will pop-up with the possibility to modify the different categories.

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Figure 84: Process - Social aspects, modify social indicators
It is also possible to add social indicators by clicking on the green button on the top-right corner and
selecting then an indicator from the available directories.

Figure 85: Process - Social aspects, add a social indicator

7 LCIA methods
The databases in openLCA Nexus do not contain LCIA methods (termed "impact assessment methods" in
the software). LCIA methods need to be imported/created manually in each database in openLCA to carry
out life cycle impact assessment.

7.1 Importing LCIA methods into openLCA

A LCIA method pack openLCA is available at www.openlca.org/downloads. This comprehensive package
of environmental impact assessment methods is formatted for use with all the databases available at

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openLCA Nexus, including, for example, ecoinvent 3, GaBi and ELCD. This pack includes normalisation and
weighting as far as this is foreseen by the method. A pack containing a social LCIA method for use with
the Social Hotspots Database also available at www.openlca.org/downloads. Ecoinvent LCIA methods are
also available for openLCA. You can download these from openLCA Nexus
(https://nexus.openlca.org/database/ecoinvent). A LCIA method developed especially for Ökobaudat is
contained in the database file when downloaded from openLCA Nexus for openLCA.
Once you have downloaded one or more of these method packs to your computer, you can then import
them into an openLCA database. To do so, begin by activating the database in which the method pack
should be imported. Then go to "File" --> "Import" and select "Import entire database" from the "Other"
folder of the import wizard. In the next window select "From exported zolca file", browse for the file and
finally select "Finish". The import will then begin automatically.

Figure 86: Importing LCIA methods, step 1

Figure 87: Importing LCIA methods, step 2

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Figure 88: Importing LCIA methods, step 3
This import may take a few minutes. When it is finished, the LCIA methods will be available in the
database, as shown in Figure 89.

Figure 89: LCIA methods in openLCA

7.2 Creating a new impact assessment method

To create a new life cycle impact assessment method, right-click on the “Impact assessment methods”
folder and select “New LCIA method”. Name the new method and add a description (optional). Once
"Finish" is clicked, the new impact assessment method will open in the editor. To see how to add impact
categories, characterization factors, etc, see the next section.

7.3 Impact methods tab contents

7.3.1 General information

Here you can change the name and description of the method as well as add/remove impact categories.
To add a new impact category, click on the green "+" button on the right-hand side. Then simply name the
category and type in a reference unit and description (optional). Figure 90 shows an example of the
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General information tab for the CED method from ecoinvent.

Figure 90: LCIA methods - General information tab

7.3.2 Impact factors

Flows as well as their corresponding characterization factors, categories, flow properties, units and
uncertainty data can be added/removed/edited in this tab. Begin by selecting the desired impact category.
Then add or remove flows using the "+" and "X" buttons on the top right-hand corner of the editor. Then
type in the characterization factor for each flow as well as the uncertainty distribution, if applicable.

7.3.3 Normalization/Weighting
To add normalization and weighting factors to the impact categories of a LCIA method, begin in the
"Normalization and weighting" tab by clicking on the green "+" tab to add a new set. The impact categories
saved in the method will automatically appear in the window on the right, where you can then manually
type in normalization and weighting factors.

7.3.4 Parameters
Parameters can be used in the same way for LCIA methods as for processes, as described in section 6.2.6.

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7.3.5 Shape file parameters

Figure 91: Shape files tab, import files

This tab is connected to Regionalized LCA, see section 9.3. The data for the regional characteristics is
imported to openLCA in shape files (i.e. GIS vector data), being each characteristic an attribute of the
existing geometries in the file. The imported attributes can then be added as new parameters in the LCIA
method editor. This way, site-specific data is only needed for the regional characteristics included in the
LCIA model, instead of having to import GIS files with thousands of attributes representing the impact
factors of each elementary flow per impact category.

Shape file parameters are created in openLCA by importing GIS files of extension *.shp which contain the
parameters as numerical attributes of each feature included in the file. 1. For importing the GIS file, click
“Import” in the “Shape files” tab of the LCIA method editor and select the file to import. Once the shape
file has been imported, the numerical attributes included in it will be added as parameters in openLCA.
The name of the parameter will be the name of the attribute in the shape file and its minimum and
maximum values will be displayed in the table. The different values per location and parameter can also
be checked in a map. For this, right-click on the parameter name and select “Show in map”.

Figure 92: Shape files tab, import files, show in map

The value of each feature included in the shape file can be checked selecting the function “i” available in

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top left corner of the pop-up window, and then clicking on the point of interest in the map. An additional
pop-up window will show the different information available in the shape file for the feature that includes
the selected point.

Figure 93: Map displaying the values of the selected parameter for all the features included in the imported shape
file
The function “Evaluate for existing locations” pre-calculates the intersections with all the locations in the
database. If the intersections are not pre-calculated and a regionalized LCIA calculation is performed, the
intersections for the locations used by the product system will be determined during the calculation and
saved for later use. Once the intersections are calculated, a weighted average value for each parameter is
obtained and the formulas defined in the impact factors are evaluated with the correspondent
parameters values. If no KML data is available for a location, the default value of the parameter is used in
the calculation of the impact factor. The resultant impact factors are finally applied to the regionalized
inventory and site-specific impact results are calculated.

Figure 94: Shape files tab, Evaluate for existing locations selection

8 Product systems
As in ISO 14040, the life cycle model of a product is called a product system. There are different ways
to create, edit and complete product systems, depending on the database and user preferences,

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which will be explained in the following section.

8.1 Creating a new product system

There are two ways to create a new product system. For option one, begin by right-clicking on the "Product
systems" folder and select "New product system". The second option is to create a product system directly
from a process. To do this, go to the "General information" tab of the process and select the button "Create
product system" (Figure 95).

Figure 95: Creating a product system, step 1

The next steps are then the same for both cases. Namely, a pop-up window will appear (Figure 96) in
which you can name the product system, add a description (optional) and select a reference process.

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Figure 96: Creating a product system, step 2
A reference process is the process at the very end of the chain. If you create a product system directly from
a process, that process will automatically be selected as the reference process. Otherwise, by entering the
text into the "Reference Process" field, you can narrow down the selection which helps to identify the
desired process.

When creating a product system, openLCA can automatically check for flows with multiple providers. If
flows with multiple providers are detected in a product system, a dialogue pops up which lets you select
the default provider for the respective flows.

To automatically have all upstream processes linked to the reference process, select "auto-link processes".
This enables three options for provider linking.

• “Only link default providers”: Many processes from databases such as ecoinvent have preselected
providers. Enabling this option will make sure that exclusively these providers are linked with the
product system, and none else.
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 • “Prefer default providers”: Enabling this option will make sure the mentioned default providers
are used when they are available. When they are not available, another provider with a fitting
reference flow will be used.
• “Ignore default providers”: Enabling this option will make sure that default providers are not used
whenever they are available.

The next step is to choose whether to save the process as a unit process or system process. The difference
between the two is describe in section 6.

Finally, it is possible to set a cut-off threshold. Processes that contribute to less than the chosen
percentage will be disregarded as providers.

To create the product system, click “Finish”

After creating a product system, it is possible to add and delete connections using the "Model graph". This
will be described in section 8.2.3.

8.2 Product system tabs contents

8.2.1 General information

Here you can change the name of the product system as well as add a description (optional). In the
"Reference" section you can see the reference process and make changes to the reference product, flow
property, unit and the target amount. The target amount should be selected in accordance with your
functional unit. It is also possible to calculate a product system from the general information tab. For more
information, please see section 8.4.

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Figure 97: Product system - General information tab

8.2.2 Parameters
In the product system level, it is possible to change the amounts of parameters defined in the processes
included in that product system. To do so, add the parameter for which you would like to change the
amount by selecting the green "+" button in the top right-hand corner of the Editor and selecting one. To
select multiple parameters at once use your keyboard's "Shift" button. The amounts saved in a product
system will override those saved in a process. However, the values saved in the process will not change. It
is not possible to create new parameters on the product system level.

8.2.3 Model graph

The model graph in the product system shows the connected processes. These connections can be
edited (added/deleted) and processes can be entirely deleted from the product system if they have
no connections in the life cycle any more. Only connected processes will contribute to the product
system's calculation. To find out more, see the next sections on making alterations to the product

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system within the model graph and on calculating product systems.

Figure 98: Product system model graph - example

By right-clicking on the background of the model graph, the following options will appear:

• Save as image (save image of model graph as .png file)

• Expand all (expand model graph to show all connected processes)
• Collapse all (minimize connected processes to show only first and second tier)
• Maximize all (expand processes' view to show inputs/outputs)
• Minimize all (show only process names, no inputs/outputs)
• Layout (choose between "Layout as tree", "Layout as minimal tree" to organize the model graph;
select "Route" to have the model graph displayed with connections made of right angles)
• Show outline (the "Outline" lists all processes in the product system alphabetically. To find a
process in the model, right-click on the flow in the Outline and select "Show" and it will appear in
the model graph)
• Open miniature view (useful for navigating your way around complex model graphs by giving a
miniature overview of the model graph. The blue area represents the current view (see Figure 99).

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Figure 99: Model graph - miniature view
As an alternative to the automatic connection of processes, you can also manually connect processes in
the model graph of a product system. By right-clicking on the processes, under "Build supply chain" you
can then select whether to build the entire supply chain for the process, or just the next tier.

Figure 100: Model graph - build next tier

Selecting "Search providers for" allows you to select the providers for each individual product of the
process. To do so, right-click on a process, select "Search providers for" and then select the respective
product. A pop-up window will appear with a list of all possible providers for that product. If the listed
providers are not already present in the model graph, you can select in the table which provider you would
like to add to the model graph and check off "Connect" to automatically connect the process to the

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product. Likewise, it is possible to search for recipients for specific outputs.

Figure 101: Model graph - search providers for, step 1

Figure 102: Model graph - search providers for, step 2

Figure 103: Model graph- search providers for, connected process

Another way to connect inputs/outputs to their respective providers/recipients is to 'draw' the connection
manually in the model graph. Click on a not-connected input/output and guide the mouse to the

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respective provider/recipient. If the symbol appears next to the mouse, this indicates that no valid
provider/recipient has been selected.

Figure 104: Model graph - drawing connections, step 1

Release the mouse when over valid provider/recipient and the connection will be made:

Figure 105: Model graph - drawing connections, step 2

It is also possible to delete connections in the graph. To do so, simply right-click on the connection arrow
and select "Delete":

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Figure 106: Model graph - deleting connections
Once a connection has been deleted, the upstream process will still be shown in the model graph;
however, as it is not connected, it will not contribute to the calculation. Delete an unconnected process
by right-clicking on it and selecting "Delete".

8.2.4 Statistics
This section gives information about general statistics, including number of processes, links, if the graph
is connected, and the name of the reference process. Additional information about provider linking and
processes with the highest in-degree and out-degree is provided. The in-degree counts how many times
a process is mentioned in the input side of the product system. The out-degree shows how many times a
process is used on the output side of the product system. The process with the highest out-degree is thus
likely to have a large impact on the product system, but the extend of its impact depends on the quantity.

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Figure 107: Product system statistics

8.3 Nested product systems

A product system can serve as the provider to another product system. Drag and drop a product system
into the model graph of a different product system (Figure 108) and connect it to one of the input flows
via “search recipients for”.

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Figure 108: Drag-and-drop of a product system into another product system
The contributions of the sub product system to the overall results are displayed e.g. in the impact analysis
and contribution tree results.

A product system can also be used as an input flow for a process (Figure 109). The flow of the quantitative
reference of the product system is then added to the process.

Figure 109: Drag-and-drop of a product system into the input flows of a process
Details about nested product systems are available here.

8.4 Calculating a product system

When you have a product system open in the Editor, there are two ways to initiate calculation. Either
select the "Calculate" button from the General information tab of the product system or the
"Calculate results" icon in the top left-hand corner:

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Figure 110: Calculating a product system, step 1
You can then select the calculation properties in the wizard. For allocation, "None" is the default setting.
Otherwise, you can choose between the options "Causal", "Economic", "Physical" or "As defined in
processes". Then, select the desired impact assessment method from the list of methods available in your
activated database (if no methods are listed you need to first import one or more methods into the
database or create a new method). If applicable, select a normalization and weighting set. The calculation
types "Quick results", "Analysis", “Regionalized LCA” and "Monte Carlo Simulation" will be explained in
more detail in section 9. It is possible to include cost calculation and assess data quality when related
boxes are checked. Finally, click "Finish" to begin calculation. Calculation time can vary, depending on the
size of the product system and database, and the type of calculation (e.g. Monte Carlo Simulations take
considerably longer than other calculations).

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Figure 111: Calculating a product system, step 2
For the calculation of the data quality of a product system an aggregation needs to be done. After checking
the box, you click on “Next” and you are free to select an aggregation method, a rounding method and
what to do with exchanges that do not have a data quality value.

Figure 112: Calculating a product system, assessing data quality, step 1

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Figure 113: Calculating a product system - assessing data quality, step 2

9 Result Analysis
This section will cover the four different calculation types "Quick results", "Analysis",” Regionalized
LCA” and “Monte Carlo Simulation" and describe the information contained in each of the result edit
tabs. Life Cycle Costing in OpenLCA is also presented in the last section.

9.1 Quick results tab contents

The option “Quick results” provides information on direct impacts. Upstream impacts are not represented
here (they are included in the Analysis results).

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9.1.1 General information

Figure 114: Quick results - General information tab

The General information tab displays which product system was calculated, including information on the
allocation method, target amount and LCIA method used for the calculation. The "Top 5 contributions to
flow results - overview" section shows a histogram chart illustrating the five processes with the highest
direct contributions to the selected flow. Change the flow information displayed by selecting the desired
flow from the list. Likewise, the " Top 5 contributions to impact category results - overview " section
displays the five processes with the highest direct contributions to the selected impact assessment
category.
If the box “Assess data quality” is checked when setting the calculation properties (see section 8.4),
information and statistics about data quality is displayed in the Data Quality Section according to the data
quality schema previously defined for the processes, see section 6.2.2.

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9.1.2 Inventory results

Figure 115: Quick results - Inventory results tab

The inventory results tab contains a table of all the product system’s input and output flows, displaying
the amounts and units for each entry (in random order). To see the list of flows in alphabetical order,
simply click on “Flow”. Likewise, to have the table organized according to category, sub-category, unit or
amount, click on those respective cells at the top of the table. If you click on the arrow symbol before the
name of the flow in Inputs or Outputs section, all processes in the product system where the flow is used
will appear (see Figure 116).

Figure 116: Quick results - Inventory results, inputs section

If the box “Assess data Quality” is checked when setting the calculation properties (see section 8.3),
information about data quality is displayed in the Inputs and Outputs Section according to the data
quality schema previously defined for the processes, see section 6.2.2.

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Figure 117: Quick results - Inventory analysis - data quality information
The information presented in all openLCA tables can be copied from the openLCA editor and pasted
elsewhere (e.g. in excel, notepad, etc.).
The last table contained in this tab is named “Total requirements” and it shows in the first column all the
processes that are included in this product system. The second column shows the output product of the
related process in the first column and its unit and amount (Figure 115).
If the box “Include Cost Calculation” is checked when setting the calculation properties (see section 8.4),
the calculation of the added value for each process and the total result are displayed.

Figure 118: Quick results - inventory analysis, added value calculation

Previously calculated inventory results (quick calculations) are stored. If you work with the LCA
Collaboration Server, calculated inventory results are shared along with product systems.

9.1.3 Impact analysis

Figure 119: Quick results - LCIA Results tab

This tab will be included in the quick results in the case that an impact assessment method was selected
in the calculation wizard. The table lists the results and reference units for the respective impact
assessment method categories with related processes (and flows) that contribute to the impact
categories.
If the box “Assess data Quality” is checked when setting the calculation properties (see section 8.4),
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information about data quality is displayed in the Impact analysis according to the data quality schema
previously defined for the processes, see section 6.2.2.

Figure 120: Quick analysis - Impact Analysis, data quality

9.1.4 LCIA checks

Upon calculating the Analysis results of a product system (or Quick results if an LCIA method has been
selected), the tab LCIA Checks lists all flows of the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) of the calculated product
system that are not captured by the applied LCIA method. The flows can either be listed regardless of the
LCIA category or grouped by LCIA category.

Figure 121: LCIA checks tab

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In addition, when opening a process, the tab Impact analysis shows which LCIA categories of a selected
LCIA method capture the flows of the inventory of the respective process. Optionally, zero values can be
excluded.

Figure 122: Impact analysis tab

Additionally, when opening a flow, the tab Impact factors lists the LCIA categories and respective LCIA
methods which capture the flow as well as the corresponding impact/characterization factor.

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Figure 123: Impact factors tab

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9.1.5 Locations

Figure 124: Quick results - Locations tab

The location tab illustrates specific information on localized flows and impact and cost categories (if the
box “Include Cost Calculation” is checked when setting the calculation properties, see section 8.4). The
locations are set in the flow level in openLCA.

9.1.6 Grouping
In openLCA, it is possible to group products to see the cumulative values for products. Please note,
the values shown in the “Grouping” tab are the direct impacts (i.e. not including upstream values).
To create a new group, select the green “+” icon in the right-hand corner of the editor. Then name
the new group (Figure 125).

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Figure 125: Creating a new group, step 1
To move a product to a group, right click on the flow and select “move” and then the desired group. To
select more than one process at once click on one, hold the “shift” key on your keyboard, and then scroll
and select another product. All products in between will also be selected.

Figure 126: Creating a new group, step 2

Once you have created groups and added products to them, their contributions for specific flows and
impact categories will be displayed in the table and as a histogram chart. Please note, the contributions
displayed are direct, which means without upstream contributions. To take upstream contributions into
account it is necessary to include all upstream processes in the group.

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Figure 127: Quick results - Grouping tab
As it can be time-consuming to create new groups, you have the option to save groups in the Grouping
tab. To do so, click on the “Save” icon in the top right-hand corner of the Grouping editor. Then give the
group a name and press ok. These groups will be available in the Quick results editor each time you carry
out a quick results or analysis calculation for any product system.

Figure 128: Saving groups

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To open saved groups, click on the icon of the open folder in the top right-hand corner of the Grouping
tab.

9.2 Analysis tab contents

The option “Analysis” provides information on direct as well as upstream impacts. All the tabs with
information on direct impacts from the quick results are included in the analysis. Upstream impacts are
shown in the tabs “Process results”, “Contribution tree”, “Sun Burst” and “Sankey diagram”.

9.2.1 General information

The General information tab of the Analysis contains the same information as for “Quick results”. For
more information, see section 9.1.1.

9.2.2 Inventory results

The Inventory results tab of the Analysis contains the same information as for “Quick results”. For more
information, see section 9.1.2.

9.2.3 Impact analysis

The LCIA Results tab of the Analysis contains the same information as for “Quick results”. For more
information, see section 9.1.3.

9.2.4 Process results

The Process results tab is unique to the Analysis calculation. Here, both the direct and the total upstream
contributions are displayed. In the section “Flow results”, select a process from the list and the input and
output flows that contribute to that flow will be listed. Select a process from the list in the section “Impact
assessment results”. All the impact categories of the chosen impact assessment method will be listed
along with the values for which the selected process contributes to each impact category. Direct
contributions/impacts are those resulting from that specific process only. Upstream total is the sum of
direct and upstream contributions/impacts.

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Figure 129: Analysis - Process results tab

9.2.5 Contribution tree

The contribution tree is unique to the Analysis calculation. It breaks down process contributions to flows
and impact categories, displaying upstream totals.

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Figure 130: Analysis - Contribution tree tab
If the box “Include Cost Calculation” is checked when setting the calculation properties (see section 8.4),
the contribution tree breaks down process contributions to cost categories (added value or net cost),
displaying upstream totals.

Figure 131: Analysis - Contribution tree tab, cost category

Also, the contribution tree can be copied and pasted to excel. To do so, select visible entries (ctrl+select to
select several entries, ctrl+A to select all), right click and copy, and then paste to excel.

9.2.6 Grouping
The Grouping tab of the Analysis contains the same information as for “Quick results”. For more
information, see section 9.1.6.

9.2.7 Locations
The Locations tab of the Analysis contains the same information as for “Quick results”. For more

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information, see section 9.1.5.

9.2.8 Sankey diagram

The Sankey diagram is a graphical illustration of the impacts of processes in the product system to specific
flows/impact categories. In the Sankey diagram the direct contribution of the process as well as the
upstream total contribution of the process are displayed. To open a process in a new editor tab, simply
double-click on it.
Right-click anywhere in the Sankey diagram editor and select:
• “Set Sankey diagram options” to select the flow or impact or cost category (If the box “Include Cost
Calculation” is checked when setting the calculation properties, see section 8.4), and cut-off level
to be displayed (Figure 132).

Figure 132: Analysis - Sankey diagram

• “Save as image” to save Sankey diagram as PNG file.
• “Open miniature view” which provides an overview of the diagram with zoom options. The blue
box in the viewer shows the view displayed in the Analysis editor.
• “Routing enabled”: Sort the layout of the connecting lines into a grid shape and bundle lines that
have the same destinations to get a clearer overview.

9.2.9 LCIA checks

See section 9.1.4.

9.3 Regionalized LCA

Both the inventory and the impact assessment phase of a life cycle assessment (LCA) might be affected
by site-specific conditions. As different spatial scales may be selected for defining each of these different

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variables (e.g. per watershed, political unit, grid, etc.), as well as for defining the process locations, it is
fundamental in a regionalized impact assessment to be able to deal with multiscale systems without
compromising the correctness of the results. To overcome this challenge, geographic information systems
(GIS) can be used not only for the calculation of regionalized impact factors but also for creating site-
specific inventories and matching each of these. Since version 1.7.0, openLCA includes the functionality for
handling GIS data, allowing the user to include this type of data in the process locations, as well as for
defining site-specific impact factors in the method.

9.3.1 Locations
The list of locations available in the database is shown in the navigation tab under Database > Background
data > Locations. It is also possible to create a new location by right-clicking on Locations and selecting
the first option “New location” (specification of a name and a code is required).

Figure 133: Regionalized LCA – locations

KML data can be added to each location (by drawing polygons, lines and points), see Figure 134 . Other
possibilities are importing kmz/xml files with geographic data or writing the coordinates in the “Text
editor”.

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Figure 134: Regionalized LCA - KML editor

9.3.2 Calculation framework

Data for regional characteristics is contained in shapefiles, which can be imported to openLCA and stored
in the database, see section 7.3.5.
The calculation framework sees the intersection between shapefiles features and process geometries. In
this way process locations are linked to LCIA methods spatial units.

Figure 135: Regionalized LCA - Calculation framework

9.3.3 Parameterization of LCIA methods

Regional characteristics affecting the Characterization Factors (CFs) in LCIA Methods can be defined with
parameters. First, shape files must be bound to parameters. Shape file parameters can be added to the
LCIA method input parameters table by right clicking on the name of the shape file parameter and
selecting “Add to method parameters”. The parameter will be automatically added to the “Input
parameters” area in the “Parameters” tab. As it can be observed in Figure 136, the “External source” field
refers to the shape file which provides the data for the parameter.

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Figure 136: Shape file parameter in the "Parameters" tab of the LCIA method editor
The mean value, which is the default value to be used when no regionalized LCIA is performed, can be
modified if necessary. The uncertainty is automatically calculated from the values contained in the shape
file. If there is more than one shape file containing a parameter with the same name, the external source
can be changed in the “Parameters” tab using the drop-down menu in the correspondent row of the
column “External source”. The mean value and the uncertainty will be recalculated with the selected
shape file.

At this point formulas for calculating the characterisation factors (CFs) in the LCIA method can be defined.

Figure 137: Regionalized LCA - Parameters applied to CFs

9.3.4 Calculation of regionalized LCA

To perform Regionalized LCA, “Regionalized LCA” must be specified when setting the calculation
properties, see section 8.4.

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Figure 138: Calculation properties for Regionalized LCA performance
The sections of the Regionalized LCA analysis results are the same as the Analysis results, see section 9.2.
In addition to “General information, inventory results, impact analysis, locations, process results,
contribution tree, grouping, Sun burst, Sankey diagram”, the section “Result map” is added. This tab
illustrates specific information on localized flows, impact and cost categories.

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Figure 139: Regionalized LCA - Result map

9.4 Monte Carlo Simulation

A Monte Carlo simulation varies entry data of the model calculation randomly according to the
uncertainty distributions. Then, an uncertainty distribution for the calculation result is provided. In
general, several thousand iteration passes are usually required.
It is also possible to compare two processes in Monte Carlo simulation if you create a new process (see
Figure 140) and then product system where one process is subtracted to the other to avoid double

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counting of uncertainties.

Figure 140: Monte Carlo simulation – creation of a process subtracting one process to the other for future comparison
in Monte Carlo simulation

9.4.1 Adding uncertainty information

The first step in openLCA is to add uncertainty data to all input and output flows in the processes
(distribution, standard deviation, min/max, etc. It is also possible to define uncertainty data for
parameters as well as LCIA characterization factors.
To add uncertainty data to flows, open a process and select “Edit” in the uncertainty field of a process:

Figure 141: Adding uncertainty information, step 1

Then, select the uncertainty distribution (no distribution, logarithmic normal, normal, triangle or uniform)
as well as the geometric mean and geometric standard deviation:

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Figure 142: Adding uncertainty information, step 2
To add uncertainty information to LCIA characterisation factors, click on the “Edit” button in the “Impact
factors” tab of the impact assessment method:

Figure 143: Adding uncertainty information to LCIA characterisation factors

Uncertainty information can be added to parameters in the same manner (in the parameters tab of
processes, LCIA methods and product systems).

9.4.2 Starting the Monte Carlo Simulation

To carry out Monte Carlo Simulation, select it in the wizard when calculating a product system, as well as
the number of simulations to be carried out. Then, uncertainties are calculated for each flow and impact
category.

Figure 144: Monte Carlo Simulation, step 1

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Figure 145: Monte Carlo Simulation, step 2
The Simulation will open in the editor. Select “Start” to begin calculations (Figure 146). The calculation
time required depends on database and product system complexity, and selected number of simulations.

Figure 146: Monte Carlo Simulation, step 3

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The results for each flow and impact category will be displayed while the simulation runs.

9.4.3 Monte Carlo Results

Figure 147: Monte Carlo Simulation results with the progress of the calculation
The results of the simulation can be exported as an excel document. Simply click on the excel icon on the
right-hand side of the editor (as shown in Figure 147).
The results of all processes and sub product systems that are part of a product system can be displayed
separately in the Monte Carlo Simulation tab. For easy navigation, individual processes can be pinned
(Figure 148).

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Figure 148: Pin/unpin processes or subsystems

9.5 Life Cycle Costing in OpenLCA

Information on Life Cycle Costing is already provided in several previous sections when the topic comes to
attention. In this section a general view of the topic is presented.
Costs are modelled in the software as associated to products, waste or elementary flows, which are inputs
and outputs of processes (Figure 149). To know more about flows and processes see sections 5 and 6
respectively. There is no need of the creation of a method for the LCC calculation. Furthermore, costs can
be positive or negative and a negative cost is regarded as an added value.

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Figure 149: Specification of costs and revenues for input and output flows in a process
In case of multi-output processes, consideration of the costs of by-products depends on the choice of
allocation options when setting the calculation properties (see section 8.4). If no option is selected the
price of the by-products is considered as a revenue, while if a type of allocation is chosen the allocation
factors are applied to the exchanges and the by-product cost is not considered. The third possibility is to
select the option “as defined in processes”: as before, if a type of allocation is chosen the allocation factors
are applied to the exchanges and the by-product cost is not considered; on the contrary, if no allocation is
selected all costs are calculated excluding those from the by-products.

Figure 150: LCC - Choice of allocation method when performing LCC

Another important issue is the consideration of market variability through uncertainty models. OpenLCA
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presents a column to assign uncertainty to input and output flows of a process, but not to the price
directly. This can be solved with making the price a parameter (see section 6.2.6) and assigning
uncertainty directly to it (Figure 151).

Figure 151: Uncertainty given to a price parameter

9.5.1 Available Data

Each database in EcoSpold or ILCD format can be imported into the software (see section 4.4). Ecoinvent
database v. 3.3 in openLCA format provides prices for all products except for waste materials and their
disposal. Otherwise, prices can be inserted manually in the input/output section for each process.
Several currencies are available in the database and for an entire database one currency can be selected
as a reference for all the others.
The software allows to model different prices for the same material referred to different processes or
countries, as the price per reference unit associated to a material is open and can be changed in the
processes of the product system. In this way, there is no need of the creation of the same material with a
different name and price associated.

9.5.2 Results and analysis available

The software displays both costs and added value (Figure 152), together with inventory and impact
assessment results.

Figure 152: Calculation of total and stage added value

With this, the software offers a good combination of environmental assessment and cost analysis.
Furthermore, LCC can be performed stand-alone by selecting no method when the impact assessment is
run (see Figure 153).

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Figure 153: Performance of LCC stand-alone, no impact assessment method is selected
OpenLCA is quite flexible as the software allows specification of separate costs for each exchange in a
process and the section called “contribution tree” offers a good overview of the added value or net costs
expressed in percentage (Figure 154).

Figure 154: Contribution tree referred to the selected cost category

10 Projects
In general, projects can be used to compare product systems.

10.1 Creating a new project

To create a new project, begin by right-clicking on the "Projects" folder and select "New project".

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Figure 155: Creating a new project, step 1
Name the new project and provide a description (optional):

Figure 156: Creating a new project, step 2

The new project will open in the Editor.

10.2 Project tab contents

10.2.1 Project setup

In the “General information” section you can type in a name for the project and a description. Once you
have configured your report in the “Project setup” and “Report sections” tabs, click on the “Report” button
to have the software carry out the calculation and create your report.

In the “LCIA Method” section select the method for the calculation as well as a normalization and
weighting set, if applicable (you will be able to select from the methods you have imported in that
database). You also have the option to select the impact categories you would like to have displayed in
the report (Figure 157).

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Figure 157: Project setup, LCIA method selection
In the “Compare product systems” section, click on the green “+” icon on the right to add product systems
you want to compare. Multiple product systems can be added simultaneously to the Compared product
systems overview/list of a project. In addition, drag and drop is supported too.

Figure 158: Adding product systems to a project

Each selected product system acts as a ‘variant’ for the calculation. It is possible to select the same product
system multiple times and/or different product systems. For each variant, you can then select a new
name, if desired, as well as a different allocation method and amount. For example, to compare the results
of a product system calculation using three different allocation methods, select the same product system
three times and then select a different allocation method for each. It is also possible to choose which
product systems are to be displayed in the results.

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Figure 159: Project setup, Variants
In the “Parameters” section, it is possible to change parameter values for variants. For example, let’s say
we want to compare the impacts of a PET bottle production when PET Granulates are transported for 200,
500 or 350 km. You can select a product system for PET Bottle that contains a parameter (see Figure 160)
for the transport distance (‘D’) three times in the “Compare product systems” section.
Rename each variant (see next figure). Then in the “Parameters” section add the parameter ‘D’ by clicking
on the green “+” button on the right and selecting the correct parameter from those available. Then enter
a new parameter value for each variant.

Figure 160: Parameter definition in processes

Figure 161: Project setup, Parameters

In the “Process contributions” section you can select processes whose impacts should be displayed
separately in the report. Select processes using the green “+” icon on the right. You can then change the
name shown in the report under “Label in report”, if desired. Please note that the results shown are direct
(single indicator) results, not including upstream processes. The process contributions will be displayed in
the report in a diagram:

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Figure 162: Project setup, Process contributions result example

10.2.2 Report sections

In this tab you can configure the report that will be created when you click on the “Report” icon in the
“Project setup” tab. Here you can name the report and add/delete report sections. As per default, a report
contains the sections ‘Introduction’, ‘Project Variants’, ‘Selected LCIA Categories’, ‘LCIA Results’, ‘Single
Indicator Results’, ‘Process contributions’, and ‘Relative Results’. You can rename sections and edit the
description text for each section. Delete sections by selecting the red “X” icon on the right. Change the
order of sections using the up/down icons on the right. It is also possible to select a component for each
section, for example, which type of chart or table should be displayed. Once you have all sections
configured, make sure to save the project before creating the report. (Create a report by selecting the
“Report” icon in the “Project setup” tab).

10.3 Exporting a project report

Once a report has been generated, a “Report Viewer” window will automatically open in the editor. Select
the “Export report” icon in the top left-hand corner to export this report in html format.

Figure 163: Exporting a report in html format

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11 Advanced Topics

11.1 Expanding memory on a MacOS system

To expand memory on a mac, begin by opening the “Finder”, then “Applications” and find openLCA. Right-
click on openLCA and select “Show package contents”:

Figure 164: Expanding memory on a mac, step 1

Then open the file “Contents”, then the file “MacOS”. Double-click on the file “openLCA.ini” (if the text
editor is not automatically opened, select the program “Text Edit” manually). In the editor, change the
memory manually, for example to 4096M. Then close all windows and restart openLCA.

Figure 165: Expanding memory on a mac, step 2

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Figure 166: Expanding memory on a mac, step 3

11.2 Scripting in openLCA

Since version 1.7.0, openLCA supports the possibility to run Python and JavaScript programs directly in
openLCA. With this feature you can automate calculations in openLCA, write your own data imports or
exports, perform sensitivity analysis calculations by varying parameter values, and much more. You can
find the scripting feature under the developer tools menu in openLCA:

Figure 167: Accessing scripting

As shown in Figure 167, just click on the language you want to use, and an editor will open where you can
write your scripts. To make debugging output visible, we directly connected the openLCA logger to the
scripting environment. Thus, when you write scripts it is helpful to open the logging console in openLCA
(File/Preferences/Logging):

Figure 168: openLCA logger for scripting

After this we can execute our first script (note that it takes a bit to initialize the Python interpreter when

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you execute a script the first time in your current openLCA session). Just write the following text in the
editor and press the run button in the toolbar:

Figure 169: Running script example

We can also log an error via

log.error("Hello openLCA")

This will show an error popup in openLCA:

Figure 170: Error popup

As it is written in the popup, these logs are also written to the openLCA log-file which you can find in your
user directory.

To execute a script, you click on the Run button in the toolbar of the Python editor (Figure 171):

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Figure 171: Run button in the toolbar
The script is executed in the same Java process as openLCA, thus with have access to all the things that
you can do with openLCA via this scripting API (and to everything that you can do with the Java and Jython
runtime). Here is a small example script that will show the information dialog below when executed in
openLCA:

from org.openlca.app.util import UI, Dialog

from org.openlca.app import App

def say_hello():
Dialog.showInfo(UI.shell(), 'Hello from Python (Jython)!')

if __name__ == '__main__':
App.runInUI('say hello', say_hello)

Figure 172: Output of code

As said above, Jython runs on the JVM. It implements a great part of the Python 2.7 standard library for
the JVM, which can be found here. For example, the following script will work when you set the file path
to a valid path on your system:

import csv

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 with open('path/to/file.csv', 'w') as stream:
writer = csv.writer(stream)
writer.writerow(["data you", "may want", "to export",])

The Jython standard library is extracted to the python folder of the openLCA workspace which is by default
located in your user directory ~/openLCA-data-1.4/python. This is also the location in which you can put
your own Jython 2.7 compatible modules. For example, when you create a file tutorial.py with the
following function in this folder:

# ~/openLCA-data-1.4/python/tutorial.py
def the_answer():
f = lambda s, x: s + x if x % 2 == 0 else s
return reduce(f, range(0, 14))

You can then load it in the openLCA script editor:

import tutorial
import org.openlca.app.util.Info as Info

Info.showBox('The answer is %s!' % tutorial.the_answer())

An important thing to note is that Python modules that use C-extensions (like NumPy and friends) or parts
of the standard library that are not implemented in Jython are not compatible with Jython. If you want to
interact from standard CPython with openLCA (using Pandas, NumPy, etc.) you can use the openLCA-IPC
Python API.

A tutorial of how to use python in openLCA can be found here.

11.2.1 The Python interpreter

openLCA integrates Jython 2.7 (http://www.jython.org/) as Python interpreter. Python is a fully featured
programming language that supports imperative, object oriented, and functional programming
paradigms. Additionally, Python is very easy to learn so that you can quickly get started. Jython also comes
with a powerful part of the Python standard library. For example, you can use the csv module
(http://www.jython.org/docs/library/csv.html) to read and write csv files directly in openLCA:

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Figure 173: Read and write csv files in openLCA

11.2.2 The JavaScript interpreter

The JavaScript interpreter that openLCA uses directly comes with the Java 8 runtime which is included in
openLCA (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/java/jf14-nashorn-2126515.html). Like Python,
JavaScript is a programming language that supports imperative, object oriented, and functional
programming paradigms. Due to the modern web, JavaScript is currently one of the most popular
programming languages. Note, that the JavaScript runtime in openLCA fully supports the JavaScript
language but that the runtime platform is not the browser but openLCA (i.e. there is no window-object or
DOM as in a web-browser). However, you can load other JavaScript files; e.g. you could use math.js
(http://mathjs.org) in openLCA via the load-function (the same works with execfile for Python):

Figure 174: Loading JavaScript files

11.2.3 The olca-object and the inspection function

To provide an entry point to the openLCA API2 you have access to an object with the name olca which
provides a set of useful methods. For example, you could log the names of all processes in a database with
the following Python script3:

2
API stands for Application Programming Interface
3
Note that you need to open a database when you want to access data via the script API.
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 for descriptor in olca.getProcessDescriptors():
log.info(descriptor.name)

One of the most useful methods of the olca-object is the inspect function which takes an object as an
argument and writes the object´s protocol to the logging console. For example, if we want to know which
methods we can call on a process descriptor object we could write:

olca.inspect(olca.getProcessDescriptors()[0])

This will take the first process descriptor object from the database (or give an error if we do not have a
process in the currently opened database) and print the protocol of the object to the logging console:
protocol:
compareTo(BaseDescriptor) : int
compareTo(Object) : int
equals(Object) : boolean
getCategory() : Long
getClass() : Class
getDescription() : String
getId() : long
getLocation() : Long
getModelType() : ModelType
getName() : String
getProcessType() : ProcessType
getQuantitativeReference() : Long
getRefId() : String
hashCode() : int
isInfrastructureProcess() : boolean
notify() : void
notifyAll() : void
setCategory(Long) : void
setDescription(String) : void
setId(long) : void
setInfrastructureProcess(boolean) : void
setLocation(Long) : void
setName(String) : void
setProcessType(ProcessType) : void
setQuantitativeReference(Long) : void
setRefId(String) : void
setType(ModelType) : void
toString() : String
wait() : void
wait(long) : void
wait(long, int) : void

In this protocol each line describes a method you can call in the following form:

[method name] ( [type of argument 1] [type of argument 2] ... ) : [return type]

For getter methods with no arguments we can use a simplified form in the Python interpreter:
instead of

descriptor.getName()

we can also write

descriptor.name

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To see the methods of the olca-object we can also call the inspect method on the olca-object itself:

olca.inspect(olca)

In the protocol that is now written to the console we can see for example the following method:

getProcess(String) : Process

This means that we can get a process for a string (which is the name of the process). The following script
will load the process with the name “compost plant, open” from the database and write the process name
and protocol to the console:
process = olca.getProcess("compost plant, open")
log.info(process.name)
olca.inspect(process)

11.2.4 Modifying database content

The olca-object also contains methods like insertProcess or updateProcess which – like the names say –
will insert a new process object or update an existing process in the currently opened database. The
following example loads the process with the name p1 from the databases, clears the current parameter
list of this process, adds 10 new parameters to this process, and finally updates this process in the
database:
# get the process p1 from the database
process = olca.getProcess("p1")

# remove the current process parameters

process.parameters.clear()

for i in range(1, 11):

# create a new parameter object
param = Parameter()
param.name = "p%s" % i
# set it as an input parameter
param.inputParameter = True
param.value = i/42.0 * 5000
# add the parameter to the process
process.parameters.add(param)

# update the process in the database

olca.updateProcess(process)

11.2.5 Running Calculations

In the following example the product system “dung slab” is calculated with the LCIA method “CML 2001”
and the results are written to the console (if you are not sure which methods you can call on a result type,
just call the inspect method of the olca-object with the result type as parameter):
result = olca.calculate(
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 olca.getSystem("dung slab"),
olca.getMethod("CML 2001") )

for i in result.totalImpactResults:
log.info("LCIA category = {}, result value = {}, unit = {}",
i.impactCategory.name, i.value, i.impactCategory.referenceUnit)

By using the Python standard library, we can easily export our results to a CSV file:
# import the Python CSV module
import csv

# calculate the product system

result = olca.calculate(
olca.getSystem("dung slab"),
olca.getMethod("CML 2001") )

# open the export file

f = open('C:/Users/Besitzer/Desktop/results_out.csv', 'wb')
writer = csv.writer(f)

# write the results to the file

for i in result.totalImpactResults:
row = [i.impactCategory.name, i.value, i.impactCategory.referenceUnit]
writer.writerow(row)

# close the file

f.close()

You could now combine the calculation with a parameter modification as described above to make
advanced sensitivity analyses with openLCA. Also, the analysis function and Monte Carlo Simulation are
available via the olca-object:

# run a Monte Carlo Simulation with 10 iterations

system = olca.getSystem("dung slab")
result = olca.simulate(system, 10)

# for each flow write the result of each iteration

for flow in result.flowDescriptors:
i = 1
for r in result.getFlowResults(flow):
log.info("flow: {}, iteration: {}, result: {}", flow.name, i, r)
i += 1

11.2.6 Using more functions from the API

With the scripting interface in openLCA you have full access to all functions in openLCA. The olca-object
just provides some entry points to the API. The full API documentation of the core openLCA modules is
available on our GitHub repository: http://greendelta.github.io/olca-modules/. The picture below shows
some method declarations in the API documentation of the Process class. These methods are the same as
the inspect method will print when you call it with a process object as parameter.

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Figure 175: Method declarations in API documentation
To use a class in your script you need to import it. There is for example a class CategoryPath available in
the package org.openlca.io which translates a category hierarchy in openLCA into a string path. The
following script shows how you could use this class in a Python script:

# import the class

import org.openlca.io.CategoryPath as path

# load a process
process = olca.getProcess("compost plant, open")

# print the full category path of the process

log.info(path.getFull(process.category))

# print the short category path of the process

log.info(path.getShort(process.category))

And here is the same in JavaScript:

// import the class

var path = Java.type('org.openlca.io.CategoryPath');

// load a process
var process = olca.getProcess("compost plant, open");

// print the full category path of the process

log.info(path.getFull(process.category));

// print the short category path of the process

log.info(path.getShort(process.category));

For the core model classes, you do not need to add import declarations. So, you can directly write the

110
following to create a new process object in Python and inspect it (see also the parameter example above):

process = Process()
olca.inspect(process)

And in JavaScript:

var process = new Process();

olca.inspect(process);

Finally, the following picture shows the classes and the dependencies between these classes of the core
model:

Figure 176: Classes and dependencies of core model

12 Quality assurance and performance

12.1 Quality assurance

In the development of openLCA, extensive tests were performed to verify and validate the software
algorithms and overall usage, also by external testers, e.g. by our Italian partner, be-LCA (www.be-
LCA.com). Tests have been performed for example to check, among others, openLCA results versus
SimaPro calculation results and openLCA results versus ecoinvent system process results. Further,

111
‘constructed’ use cases have been used to reflect specific modelling aspects of LCA (allocation, system
expansion, uncertainty calculation, parameter usage, etc.) which have been calculated in other software
systems, including MATLAB / Scilab and excel. Here is not the space to fully explain all the tests, but we
would like to illustrate some of our more relevant results. More information is available on request (see
contact information).

Figure 177 shows a comparison of inventory results for SimaPro and openLCA, for the process electricity
production mix high voltage, country mix, BE, for ecoinvent 3.0.1, default allocation model. Only those
flows are considered where flow names and compartments are identical between SimaPro and openLCA,
which is the case for more than 700 flows for the said system. The models were calculated in both
software systems, and then exported from SimaPro via text export (which is limited to exponent and two
digits) and from openLCA via excel export.
As the figure shows, results are very similar. The most extreme ratios are still very close to 1 meaning that
both software systems calculate almost fully identical results:

Figure 177: Comparison of inventory results for SimaPro and openLCA

Top 5 minimum ratios are shown in table 1; table 2 shows the top 5 maximum ratios:

Table 1: Ratio of results from SimaPro and openLCA in a calculation comparison, 5 lowest

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Table 2: Ratio of results from SimaPro and openLCA in a calculation comparison, 5 highest

This is result of a life cycle calculation with about 7500 unit-processes included.

12.2 Performance
Improving the performance also for large life cycle systems is one of the core tasks in the development of
openLCA. Table 3 presents some results (Windows 64-bit version, Windows 10, identical, modern notebook
computer, calculation using CED method), also in comparison to SimaPro 9.0.0.30.

Figure 178: PC features

Table 3: openLCA and SimaPro performance comparison in network/analysis calculation

Time required [seconds] Ratio: required time

openLCA 1.9 SimaPro 9 SimaPro/openLCA

Ecoinvent 3.5 barley grain, feed production | Cutoff, U (CA-QC)

Creating a product system * 11 * *

Analysing/ calculating a product system* 30 * *

Total** 41 17 0.41

Ecoinvent 3.5 electricity high voltage production mix BE, cut-off,U

Creating a product system * 4.8 * *

Analysing/ calculating a product system* 26 * *

Total** 30.8 29 0.94

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* not available in SimaPro as separate action, always performed when calculating a network in SimaPro
** for openLCA, addition of time for creating and calculating the product system; opening an already created product system in
openLCA takes about one second.

SimaPro is used as a benchmark here since it is the only other broadly used LCA software system (at least
to our knowledge) that can calculate large unit-process based product systems from ecoinvent 3 so far.
For the performance tests, the identical computer was used, no other user was interfering with the
SimaPro multi-user Developer version; in openLCA, the ‘quick analysis’ calculation option was selected
which produces results like the “analysis calculation” in SimaPro which in turn was used for SimaPro.
It is also possible to compare the “analysis calculation” option with the “network calculation” in SimaPro
as they produce similar results.

The table shows that openLCA is between 41% to 94% as fast as SimaPro when calculating a large
ecoinvent unit process life cycle. This is also shown in the figure below. Both software systems become
faster when repeating identical tasks, e.g. when the same product system is deleted and created again,
due to caching procedures; in SimaPro, especially a repeated calculation is finished much quicker. In
openLCA, a once created product system can be stored; reopening it takes only about one second and
saves the time for recreating it. openLCA offers a further ‘quick results’ calculation where only main
contributors and inventory and impact assessment tables are calculated; this quick calculation is about
twice as fast as the analysis calculation.

13 Contact
openLCA is developed and managed by GreenDelta in Berlin. If you have any feedback, comments,
questions, please let us know.

GreenDelta GmbH
Müllerstrasse 135
13349 Berlin, Germany
Tel. +49 30 48 496 - 030
Fax +49 30 48 496 - 991
gd@greendelta.com
www.greendelta.com

Follow openLCA:

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14 Acknowledgements
Finally – we would like to thank our supporters and contributors. The following institutions provided
financial support (incomplete overview):

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